


A Kind of Magic.

by xofunghoul



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, BoRhap, Bohemian Rhapsody, F/M, Hogwarts AU, M/M, borhap hogwarts, slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2019-11-13 17:38:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 36,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18035879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xofunghoul/pseuds/xofunghoul
Summary: Rami, Gwilym, Joe and Ben attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and we learn about their adventures through their years there.





	1. As It Began.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this very much needed Hogwarts AU of the BoRhap boys with a side of Queen as Professors.  
> English is not my first language so I'm very sorry if there are mistakes in this!

_**[Fifth Year]** _

 

 

It was a Friday night past midnight and they were most definitely not supposed to be outside their rooms or even common rooms but here they were, at the top of the Ravenclaw Tower, sitting in a circle sharing two blankets because it was beginning to get a little cold out at this time of year.

The four friends were in their 5th year of school and pretty much got around to break every rule about wandering around the castle off hours. Every time Rami, the Ravenclaw of the merry bunch, argued that one day their luck would run out and they would get caught was met with very solid retort. "Alright mate, if they didn't want us to sneak around, they wouldn't have given us the invisibility cloak to begin with. I think we are pretty much fulfilling our destiny". Said Ben, the Slytherin of the group very confidently and a little over dramatically.

"Destiny?" Rami raised an eyebrow to him. "You're suggesting our destiny is to sneak around in the middle of the night to do nothing?" he asked rhetorically but he was sure Ben was going to actually reply to this.

"Yeah, maybe we'll find something one day." of course, he did answer.

"Who's been feeding Ben with Marauders stories again? We discussed this, his ego can't take that. He's going to start believing he's some kind of hero." Pitched in Joe, the Hufflepuff and Ben's closest friend.

"Oy, I might!"

"Can you imagine? His head might explode for how big it would get. We wouldn't be able to stop it really." Lastly added Gwilym, the brave Gryffindor that wasn’t scared of the fit Ben was about to unleash upon them for the teasing.

"Oh alright, those are some claws Mr. Nice Guy." Ben argued back.

"Children please." Rami stopped them all. "All I'm saying is, we should be careful. That's all. No need to murder each other over Ben's ego."

Ben simply rolled his eyes at them. He hated when they teamed up against him, of course. He liked it more when they all teamed up _with_ him and someone else got to be the target, but from time to time it was his turn of being the bullied.

"What are we doing up here anyway? Who chose the spot?" Ben asked to change the subject and looked to his side to Joe who was his blanket partner. Joe simply shrugged, then Ben looked in front of him to Rami and Gwilym who were sharing the other blanket.

"Me, actually" Gwilym raised a finger and then reached behind him to get a book. "Professor May suggested this tower was a good spot for star gazing and I wanted to take some notes for an assignment."

"So what you are saying is, we are sneaking around to do homework." Ben stated.

"I suppose" Gwilym sighed.

"Yes, Rami, we’ll get in trouble real soon."

Rami simply shrugged at Ben's snarky remark and looked over at Gwilym's book because he was actually very interested in Professor May's Astronomy class and appreciated the extra information. It was good for Rami, to be best friends with the teacher's favourite student of one of his favourite classes.

He's the half blood of the group but he never felt any different to the rest of the boys, especially Gwilym and Ben who were pure bloods and of very powerful families. But Ben had the fortune of stomping on Joe as soon as he stepped foot on the Hogwarts Express on their first year and he grew kind of over protective of the muggle born Hufflepluff boy who was a sports enthusiast like him, although of very different kinds of sports. Perhaps if it weren’t for Joe, Ben's story in Hogwarts might have been slightly different. Of course not all Slytherins are bad people, he was actually friends with a bunch of them that weren’t complete assholes and didn’t care about Ben’s group of friends. But the worst of the Slytherins, those of pure blood, probably grandchildren of Death Eaters, wanted him as leader because of his status and family. He didn’t care about that at all. Still he was a popular boy in and out of his house and not only because of his family and obvious handsomeness. Ben was also a phenomenal Beater and the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team.  

The same can't be said about the other three. Gwilym wasn’t popular per se but he was well liked because he was a proper gentleman. He was polite and at the ready to help everyone and he was well known for that. Like Ben, he also came from a well-positioned family in the magic world. His mother was the editor of the Daily Prophet, no less and his father worked at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Mysteries which made him very well educated even before entering Hogwarts. He loved to read as a child and his parents made sure to cultivate this side of him and it showed in the way Gwilym conducted himself.

 Joe and Rami, on the other hand, would've been mere back ground students if it weren't for his friends being total Hogwarts sweethearts basically. Rami was of Egyptian descent, his mother worked at the International Confederation of Wizards in Egypt where she met Rami’s dad, a muggle, who passed away before the boy got into Hogwarts. And he was not only friends with one of the most popular boys of the school, his identical twin brother, Sami, was also a very popular Gryffindor and even though they looked very much alike, their personalities weren’t exactly similar. But Rami was a very laid-back kid and didn’t care about social status at school and was very happy with the few friends he had who he knew were true and that was enough for him and very important too. Much like Ben and Joe, he met Gwilym on his first year too. They were both the only ones who had previously read about Astronomy by their very first class with Professor May and they instantly clicked. Rami had always also been very interested in Magic History and particularly the story of Hogwarts Founders and Rowena Ravenclaw especially. He was so thrilled when he got selected in her house.

Joe was the joker of the group and very different from almost anyone the rest of them knew. He had the ability of always having a comeback to anything. It was very difficult to win him in an argument and he was also the sweetest guy. And he knew it so he used it in his favour which wasn’t always the right choice like that time he convinced everyone it was a good idea to leave Ben unsupervised with the invisibility cloak and Ben literally disappeared for a week. Apart from being a very funny guy, Joe was also very artistic. His muggle parents owned a dance studio in London and always encouraged him to pursue his passion. He was very interested in muggle cinematography and always looked for a way to connect this to the magic world. He instantly got very interested in magical photography which led him to first take pictures of Quidditch games, because sports were one of his others interests, and then led him to become the Quidditch Commentator.  

The four were very different in many ways which made their personalities complement each other almost like a symphony.

“I need to go to Hogsmade tomorrow.” Ben said to Joe almost whispering, trying not to interrupt Gwilym and Rami who were debating about something he wasn’t really paying attention to but they looked really into it. He moved his hands over the blanket and over his knees. “I need a new pair of gloves for Quidditch practice next week.”

Joe squinted his eyes at Ben’s hands. “I thought you had a new pair.”

“I did…” Ben stuck his hands under the blanket again.

“What happened to them?”

“Dunno, lost ‘em” He shrugged.

“Lost them?” Joe knew him damn well for him to be lying to him right now.

“Alright, broke them maybe.” Ben said, still keeping the truth.

“You very well know you can’t lie to me Hardy, what did you do?” Joe said firmly which made Rami and Gwilym interrupt their conversation and turn their attention to them.

“They caught on fire.” Ben finally admitted with his eyes shut tight.

“They what now?”

“WHAT?”

“Oh dear…”

Rami, Joe and Gwilym said respectably and in unison.

“Wait, let’s not jump to any assumptions.” Gwilym stopped the other two. “They weren’t actually on your hands when they caught fire, were they?”

Ben looked away as an answer and the four of them started fidgeting on their spots. Rami nodding, Gwilym with two fingers on his chin, thinking and Joe wanting to kill him and take him to the infirmary at the same time even thou he didn’t look harmed or anything.

“What happened Ben?” Gwilym was still leading the conversation, giving Joe a look that said ‘calm down’

“It’s not a big deal… and I don’t wanna say”

“I will turn you into a badger right now if you don’t.” Joe said quickly before Gwilym could interfere.

“Alright, fine.” Ben sighed. “I was reading up for Professor Taylor’s next DADA class after Quidditch practice last night. There was a spell, I wanted to try it. Failed. I thought… well you guys do it all the time.” He said looking at Rami and Gwilym. “I thought I’d be fine. But anyway, I got them off before they really caught on fire but they burned a bit so I need a new pair.”

There was a moment of silence. They had to let sink in for a while that Ben was doing homework ahead of schedule which was unheard of… or maybe they didn’t know and he secretly did this, at least for Professor Taylor’s classes.

“Your love for that man is going to get you killed one day.” Joe _had_ to add and they all laughed.

“Let’s all go to Hogsmade tomorrow and get lover boy here a new pair of gloves.”

Rami added and they agreed to that and to the fact that it was time to return to their respective houses and rooms. Rami was already at Ravenclaw so they said goodnight to him and since it was Joe’s time to keep the cloak, they took Gwilym first to the Gryffindor common room entrance and then he walked Ben to the Slytherin one.

“Alright then. Goodnight.” Ben whispered and was ready to walked out of the cloak but he felt Joe’s hand on his arm pulling him back.

“Hey, umm, Sorry…” Joe said in a whisper too and nodded to himself. “I really over reacted back there. I jumped the gun.”

“’S fine Joe. I should’ve said. Dunno why I thought I could hide it. I didn’t want to worry you, I guess. You know, all of you.” He was looking at his feet but looked up to say the last part which was implied but he somehow felt the need to emphasise.

“Yeah, I totally get it, it was nothing but still. I should’ve listened first like Gwil did. Again, sorry.”

“You’re short fussed, I get it ‘s fine.” Ben said with a side smile, joking.

“Fuck you” Joe shoved Ben a little with his shoulder which cracked Ben up even more.

“Goodnight short fuss”

“Goodnight broom fucker” 


	2. Good Company.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get into some trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter that doesn't revolve around Ben. Would you look at that?

**_[First Year]_ **

 

 

It was a few weeks after classes started at Hogwarts and it was Rami and Gwilym’s first year at the school. It was at Professor’s May Astronomy class, where they were asking questions back and forth non-stop, that they instantly became friends. Right after that class, they walked together to their next subject still talking about everything they just had learnt and told each other facts they had learnt prior to the class too. This became a habit quickly for them and they started doing it pretty much every day. At some point Rami found a way to slip into the conversation his love for Hogwarts’ history, starting of course with Rowena, his house founder.

“Did you know it was Rowena who chose this spot for Hogwarts’ castle and its name? The ever-changing floor plan was also her idea, or so I’ve read. She was great.” Rami nodded, hugging his books tight to his chest.

“I did not know that, no. That’s rather brilliant, I think. I’ll look up more about her at the library later.” Gwilym answered completely invested in the conversation because he loved to learn new things. He got that from his mother.

“I could give you a list of books and an index of where to find the information exactly if you want to.”

“I would very much love that.”

“I don’t know what is it about this school but I find it fascinating. I want to learn everything there’s to know about it while I’m here.” Rami continued. “Oh, do you know about the girl’s lavatory on the second floor right above the Great Hall? No one goes there. I’ve heard there’s a girl’s ghost! Myrtle or something?” he said excitedly.

Rami was rather thrilled about the fact that he was actually able to talk about all these things out loud with someone. Sami, his brother, wasn’t really interested in Hogwarts history and his mom, who was the one that got him interested in it, was working all the time and he hardly ever saw her anymore after their dad died. The truth was, his mom threw herself into work to deal with that pain which he understood despite his young age. His dad was the one that would always listen to his Hogwarts stories because, despite of being a muggle, he really wanted to know about the world his children were getting into so whenever Rami came to him with new facts, he was eager to listen to his little boy. He missed his dad terribly but being at Hogwarts now made him feel less alone, even more now that he met Gwilym who was listening to him eagerly like his father used to.

“My parents told me about her. Yes!” Gwilym exclaimed because he finally knew about something too again. When they talked about Astronomy, they both knew pretty much the same amount of information, which was rather a lot for their short age but he knew very little about Hogwarts history. He figured he was going to learn it there anyway so he never bothered before. He was excited about it now because Rami made it sound very interesting.

“We should go sometime. Check it out.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Rami.”

“Oh, come on Gwilym. It’ll be exciting. Please?” Rami pleaded. He’s read a lot about that legendary bathroom and he had to see it for himself.

“It’s our first year here, our first month! And you already want to get into trouble?” Gwilym wasn’t mad or anything, if something he was rather impressed by the small Ravenclaw.

“If I thought we would get into trouble I wouldn’t suggest it, I promise. We’ll be fine, really.”

“Oh, alright. Fine. We’ll go Friday after class but five minutes and that’s it!”

Rami smiled widely barely able to contain his thrill. Being at Hogwarts now was surreal to him, he was almost overwhelmed but managed to keep it together because he didn’t want to seem weird. It was enough that he looked very different from everyone else and he knew there were still a few people that thought magic should only be taught to pure bloods, which he wasn’t, but he was going to pull through all that no matter what. Little did he know he would meet the perfect group of friends who’ll support him without hesitation or doubt.

Friday came quickly for the pair and even though Rami couldn’t stop thinking about it, he tried not to pester Gwilym about the visit to the closed girl’s lavatory. He didn’t want to annoy the Gryffindor and end up not going. Or going by himself which he definitely wasn’t brave enough to do.

He was first to arrive a couple of feet away from the lavatory’s entrance where they were supposed to meet, an hour after their last class, but Rami was earlier than that because he couldn’t wait and he couldn’t think of anything better to do, he was too anxious. Students were going outside or back to their common rooms or the library to star on their homework for the weekend. That would’ve been him too if it wasn’t for his urge to explore Hogwarts castle.

Gwilym arrived exactly on time at the spot. He thought it was better for him to leave his books behind so he was free handed and comfortable, unlike Rami that was still carrying his books because he didn’t think that through, he was too excited to think.

“You came!” Rami exclaimed. He didn’t know if he thought Gwilym was going to bail on him but he was definitely relieved he didn’t.

“Of course.” Gwilym chuckled at Rami’s inability to contain his excitement. He still wasn’t sure about what they were about to do but walked next to him to the door anyway. “You’re absolutely sure this will be safe right?”

“Yes, I’m sure. And if something were to happen, I’ll say I dragged you here, I promise.”

“But nothing is going to happen, right?” Gwilym looked down at Rami, since he was considerably taller, with his arms crossed over his chest as they stood in front of the entrance a few steps further from where they met.

“I’m 80% sure nothing is going to happ…”

Rami couldn’t finish saying this as they both heard screaming from inside the lavatory. They looked at each other equal parts intrigued and panicked. The Ravenclaw took out his wand to open the door but he didn’t need to use any spells, the door was already opened. He gave Gwilym a final look. He seemed reluctant but finally nodded, giving him green light as he was hoping and they opened the door.

What they found inside was the last thing they were expecting. It was nothing dangerous or worrying, but rather ridiculous. In front of them, two other boys that looked about their own age were soaking wet trying to stop water from coming pouring out of a broken pipe. Rami gave his books to Gwilym and run towards them trying to help.

“We can’t stop it!” The red head that seemed to be a Hufflepuff stated the obvious.

“I can see that!” Rami screamed back because the water was coming out strongly and made a lot of noise. “Joe, right? Muggle born?” Rami asked at the absolutely worst possible moment and didn’t really think if it was okay to ask or not. He had heard a few Slytherins talking about him behind his back as he walked by with the other boy. They weren’t being very nice if Rami was honest.  

“Yeah! You too?” Joe answered as if he wasn’t being attack by a ridiculous amount of water and didn’t find it insulting or even weird at all.

“Just half…”

“And I’m Ben. Now that we are all well acquainted…” Interrupted the other Slytherin boy, sarcastically. “Could we sort this mess out? That… we definitely not caused.”

“You do know you are all wizards, right? You literally can do magic.” Gwilym added from afar watching them fascinated by how dumb the three looked.

“Nop.”

“I literally don’t know how.” Ben and Joe answered at the same time.

“There’s a spell!”

Rami exclaimed and Gwilym rolled his eyes. He held Rami’s book with just one hand, took out his wand and walk over to them but not too close because of course he didn’t want to get wet.

“Reparo!”

Gwilym said with a swirl of his wand and pointed to the broken pipe which immediately fixed and the water stopped coming out which made the boys fall on their asses in a pond of water.

Ben and Joe shared a look for a second and then busted out laughing. Rami couldn’t contain himself and joined them, while Gwilym shook his head. He waved his wand towards them in a complicated twist and their wet clothes started drying which made them stop laughing and stand up. Joe was thrilled.

“How are you doing that!?” He practically screamed.

“My mom used to do this to us whenever we were caught in the rain without an umbrella since I was very little so she taught me in case it ever happened to me by myself. She _really_ hates getting wet.”  

“Can you teach me?” Rami asked as his eyes lighted up immediately.

“Sure, if we can all get out of here, please?”

The four boys left the lavatory room almost as if they had never been there except for the fact that their hair was still a bit damp. They were walking away through the hallway, looking over their shoulder and when they thought they were safe and sound and successful in not being caught, they found Professor Beach, the Headmaster, in front of them at the end of the hallway.

They stopped immediately as the man approached them. Joe suddenly forgot how to breath, Ben was sweating bullets and Rami, who had his books back in his hands, was hugging them so tightly they almost snapped. Gwilym was the only one who seemed calmed and was walking one step in front of them, confidently.

“Boys.” Professor Beach addressed them, with his hands behind his back, looking mostly at Gwilym since he was the only one making eye contact with him. They nodded back in acknowledgment except for Gwilym that actually replayed back. “Why is your hair damp at this hour of the afternoon?” the Headmaster inquired.

Panic raised even more now. Joe and Ben were standing behind Rami and they shared a look that meant they wanted to run away but there was no way they could do that. They opened their mouths but just nonsense would come out. Not a single coherent phrase. Joe’s hands were all over the place. Rami simply looked down in the verge of tears. But of course, Gwilym was there and without hesitation, ignoring the idiotic sounds coming from Ben and Joe, he stepped up and answered.

“We learnt the Aguamenti spell in class today and we were just practicing it a few moments ago, Professor.”

Rami finally looked up from his books, relieved because that was something that they could actually be doing, or should’ve been doing perhaps instead of getting into trouble as they were. Ben and Joe simply looked like gobsmacked goldfishes, they noticed this and closed their mouths quickly.

“Very well Mr. Lee, keep up the good work.” Of course, the Headmaster wasn’t sold on the lie but it seemed they didn’t get themselves in any dangerous situation so he let it pass. “Try to keep clear of this part of the castle if you are on your own. It’s not exactly safe and stay out of the first floor’s corridor by Sir Cadogan portrait too. I don’t want you getting into any trouble.”

“Yes Headmaster, of course.”

Gwilym replayed to Professor Beach and he gave them a sign that they could leave which they did, at first walking quickly behind Gwilym until they were out of sight and then almost sprinting outside the castle. Once they were out, they stood in a circle in silence looking at each other for a few seconds until lastly Ben and Joe’s eyes met and… of course, they started laughing again.

“It’s not funny guys.” Rami said almost whispering, his heart still beating loudly in his chest.

“You have to admit that was quite a bit funny.” Gwilym chuckled a little, he was honestly amused by the whole thing and he found it ridiculous.

“Gwil!” Rami couldn’t believe Gwilym right now. He didn’t want to do this in the first place, what was happening? “I wanted to explore the castle but now I don’t know if it’s safe?”

“Oh, we want in on that.” Joe pointed at Ben and himself, they were kind of planning the same thing. Ben looked at Joe and nodded at Rami.

“I thought it was going to be dangerous but it was fun actually. And you need someone to get you out of trouble as proven today.” Added Gwilym. “I’m in too. And Rami is the one who knows all about the castle so, we’re doing this together. But we absolutely can’t and won’t do this on our own, okay? It’s the four of us or nothing. We have to be safe if we are going to do this.” He said this looking directly at Ben and Joe who seemed to be the most reckless of the bunch. They both nodded. “Rami? We are doing this right?”

“Yeah… I guess?” he hesitated and they all gave him a threatening look. “Alright, yes. We’re doing this.”

“So obviously we’re going to check that corridor Professor Beach…” Ben started but Joe interrupted him.

“Miami.”

“What? What’s _a Miami_?” Gwilym asked.

“It’s a city in the United States. _Miami Beach._ ” Rami explained.

“Yeah, it’s funny!” Joe said amused by himself.

“It _is_ funny! Let’s call him that.” Ben continued. “We’ll check that corridor _Professor Miami_ , told us about next. How about this weekend?”

“Sounds good to me.” Gwilym said.

“Okay.” Rami agreed.

“mm… I’ll have to check my schedule.” Joe joked and they all gave him a killer look. “Fine, geez, I’ll make time for you guys.” He said rolling his eyes and everyone shook their heads at him.

The four boys sat on the grass and Rami started to open books and finally got a head start on homework, especially if he was going to be busy the next day. Gwilym asked him to read out loud to them and requested a quill and some paper so he could take notes too. Ben and Joe decided they were going to pay attention to Rami as well since they had nothing better to do but wait until their next adventure. Or… at least they were going to try. Their attention span wasn’t as good as Gwilym’s.

After some work was done and it started to dawn, the boys began to disperse not before settling a time and place for the next day.

And then, they parted ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment to save a car's life.


	3. Death on Two Legs.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's that girl?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joe goes full Charles Boyle.  
> Also this one has a lot of dialogue and the title is because Joe is very overdramatic.

**_[Fifth Year]_ **

 

A November Monday morning found the four friends sitting on the grass outside the castle having breakfast procured by Joe as usual, being the Hufflepuff that he was; friend of every domestic Elf in the kitchen next to his common room. Rami was reading for his first class, as usually happened during breakfast and Gwilym would even quiz him sometimes. Rami was never fully invested in what he was reading to the point of not paying attention to his friends’ conversations, he was very good at multitasking and could easily listen and read at the same time, even commenting if he needed to.

“I don’t understand why even be a magician…” Joe was saying.

“A wizard, Joe.” Gwilym corrected him for the millionth time in the five years he’s known him. Joe did it on purpose of course, because he knew it annoyed him.

“… if I can’t pet a dragon, really. Being the dinosaur fan here, I think I have the right. Why can’t I make a trick…”

“Spell or charm.” Gwilym corrected him again.

“…to transport myself to this place where they protect and study dragons, that I’m **_JUST_** learning now by the way, thanks a lot.”

“Because you are a child, Joe.” Gwilym was shaking his head.

“Actually there’s a spell that can transport you there.” Rami added and Gwilym elbowed his arm.

Joe opened his eyes so big it looked like they were about to pop out of their socket but before he could start ranting about how they were the absolute worst friends in the world and how hurt he was about all the lies and deception he had to endure over all these five years they were together and how he trusted them, he heard Ben say something and looked at him who was looking at the sky.

“Bonnie?” Ben’s eyes squinted as he watched an Owl coming his way. The Owl dropped an envelope over him that he easily caught with one hand and opened it immediately to the eyes of the other three that were obviously waiting for an explanation. “No way!” Ben stood up in a flash and sprinted away from the group running inside the castle. He looked very excited unlike his friends who looked very puzzled.

“What the fuck…?” Joe asked looking at the other two left but they both shrugged. It took them a second to pick up their stuff and run after Ben as well.

They found him at the entrance of the Great Hall and he was spinning around a blond girl that was screaming and laughing of joy in his arms. ‘What the fuck indeed’ thought Joe to himself but he didn’t say it out loud.

“Who’s that?” Joe whispered to Gwilym who was next to Rami, next to him but he shrugged again, shaking his head.

“Oh I’ve missed you!” The girl screamed when Ben finally put her down and hugged him once more but with both feet on the ground now, Ben was hugging her back tightly too.

“I’ve missed you too. I can’t believe you are here!” Ben broke the hug but didn’t let go of her completely, holding her from her arms and looking at her very happily and surprised.

“And for good, baby.” The blond made a weird move, like a celebratory dance. Joe on the far off rolled his eyes almost loudly and both Rami and Gwilym gave him a look he didn’t care for right now.

“Dad’s been transferred.” She continued. “We’ve all moved back. No more France, no more Beauxbatons. I’m a Hogwarts girl now.”

Ben shook his head out joy and gave her a big hug again, lifting her up a little. Once he put her down again she turned to the three boys that were a few feet away. She pointed at them looking at Ben and he nodded so she started walking towards them.

“You must be Gwilym. Oh, come here!” She stood on her tip toes and gave Gwilym a big hug which he welcomed with a smile and hugged her back. “I’m Lucy, I’ve heard so much about you!”

“Funny, we haven’t heard a single word about her.” Joe said a bit bitterly to Rami.

“I hear you are the clever one.” She continued once she broke the hug.

“I suppose I am, yeah.” Gwilym nodded proudly.

“Did she just…?” Rami started saying to Joe but was interrupted by Lucy who caught his hands.

“And you are Rami, _also_ the clever one, yes, I know you are both very smart, sorry if I implied otherwise.” Lucy smiled brightly and Rami practically forgot who or where he was. She also hugged him tightly for a second and moved to stand in front of Joe.

“Come here Joe!” Like she did with the other two, he hugged Joe tightly, catching him with his both arms inside the hug. Joe just stood there.

“She’s a hugger…” He said and for the first time looked directly at Ben who seemed… uncomfortable? Lucy finally let go of him and went to stand next to Ben again.

“I’ll finally have someone to do my homework.” Ben said half joking, half kind of truthfully.

“I’m not doing your homework!” she said in a high pitch.

“Yeah you are.”

“Yeah, I probably will….” Lucy nodded.

“I do his homework…?” Rami whispered to Joe and Gwilym.

“Why do you do his homework?” Gwilym asked him shocked and honestly a bit angry.

“I don’t know!” Rami answered exasperated because he always thought he was just helping Ben but he might have manipulated him into doing his homework? He felt dirty now.

“It’s those green eyes. He’ll get you to do anything and you’ll thank him for it.” Joe added.

“I thought that only worked with you.” Gwilym teased Joe but before he could protest he addressed Ben. “Hey, how come you never told us about um… Lucy?”

“Ben doesn’t like saying his best friend is a _girl_.” Lucy mocked Ben looking up at him since he was considerably taller than her. He rolled his eyes.

“ _Best friend_ ” Joe repeated, enunciating the words very slowly and crossing his arms over his chest. “Like in the magic world or in _the universe_?” he tried to joke but it came out differently, more like jealously.

“In the universe really.” Ben and Lucy share a look and he shoulder hugged her as she smiled.

“Can you look at that time!” Joe lifted his wrist to his face where there was evidently no watch and said. “It’s ‘time to go puke o’clock.’ ” He turned around and started walking away without saying goodbye.

Lucy laughed. “You were right, he’s really funny.”

“We should get to class too. Are you coming?” Gwilym asked Ben.

“Who’s sorting you?” Ben asked Lucy before answering Gwilym.

“Professor… Austin? Yes?”

“I’ll ask her if I can stay for it.” Ben told Lucy and looked back at the boys. “I’ll catch up in a bit.”

Gwilym simply nodded and started to walk away with Rami who a few feet away turned around a bit and waved at Lucy. Lucy waved back and worded ‘bye’ with her lips and a big smile.

“He’s cute.” She told Ben cheekily about Rami as soon as they were away.

“You’ve been here five minutes!”

Lucy laughed and shrugged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Two weeks passed since Lucy Boynton arrived to Hogwarts and consequentially their lives and they hadn’t seen much of Ben without her. Sometimes he would show up at breakfast because she was taking an early class to catch up or simply invite her to join them after class. Joe was definitely not happy about this but Rami was more than welcoming to their new addition. Over the course of these weeks they learnt a lot about Lucy. She was funny and sweet and she was a talker. She could talk your ear off and she could easily talk Joe off which was impressive. She loved telling stories and anecdotes and talking about Ben. The friends learnt she was born in England and her parents were friends with Ben’s parents and they were very close. Both their fathers went to Hogwarts together and knew each other since they were kids. Ben and Lucy grew up together for the first few years of their lives but before she was eleven and could get into Hogwarts her family moved to France. Ben doesn’t like to say it but he was in fact heartbroken when she left. After she moved to France, The Hardys would visit the Boyntons in France every summer and they would spend it together but that seemed to be over now that she was back in England for good.

Gwilym and Rami grew fond of the, now, Ravenclaw girl, as did pretty much everyone else. Deputy Headmistress Austin had a bit of a preference for her too and Lucy managed to make everyone she met like her. She never gave anyone the time to think of her as “the new girl” and blended in perfectly. The only one person in the whole school who seemed to have a problem with her was Joe.

In an afternoon when they were studying at Hufflepuff common room with Gwilym and Rami, and after fidgeting with his quill for a while, Joe finally took the courage to speak to them.

“So I’m gonna say what everyone’s thinking.” He started and his friends looked up from their books, it took a second more for Rami but he finally did look up. “Does he have to bring Lucy everywhere? Why is she always with us?”

Rami was about to talk but Gwilym stopped him. For one, he thought Joe needed to vent out his feelings once and for all and two he really wanted to hear how stupid he was about to sound and see if he would notice. Joe in fact continued.

“I mean, I always thought some group of stuck up Slytherins were gonna take him away from us some day and he would become full time popular asshole and wouldn’t give us the time but this? Change us for a _girl_?”

Of course Joe didn’t mean half of the things he was saying but he couldn’t stop babbling. Rami looked at Gwilym to see if he could talk again and Gwilym shook his head.

“I don’t know. It’s just a bit weird. What exctly do they even talk about? She’s not even _as funny_ as she thinks she is.”

“Okay Joe. Stop.” Gwilym finally put an end to the pity show Joe was doing. “I think you are being a bit over dramatic about the whole situation. If you’d listen to yourself right now you’d punch yourself in the face. Would you feel the same if Lucy was my friend and not Ben’s?”

Joe opened his mouth to talk but closed it back immediately. Was Gwilym right? He was jealous, of course he was but he thought it was because someone intrude their group. Why weren’t they feeling the same? Was he really jealous of just Ben?

“So you don’t mind her…?” He asked.

“Rami has a huge crush on her actually.” Gwilym said pointing at Rami with a hand on his mouth as in a pretend secret that of course they both heard.

“Hey!” Rami protested but accepted. “It’s true though.”

“And honestly, I adore her. She’s hilarious and she likes to study, like us.” Gwilym said looking at Rami. “She’ll make a great study buddy.”

Joe hesitated in his spot. Now he felt like a jerk and very irrational. Why couldn’t he shake off the feeling that he didn’t like her?

“You know they are just friends, right? They are like siblings.” Rami added only because he actually had to come to this realisation before he accepted his feelings for Lucy himself. But Joe wasn’t following.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

Gwilym and Rami looked at each other, trying to explain what they thought was the obvious reason why Joe was jealous. “They won’t become a couple.”

“Yeah, gross, of course not, they are 15.”

“People at 15 can have a significant other Joe.” Gwilym said matter of fact-ly, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, gross people.” Joe sighed as his friends laughed at him. “I gotta take a walk.”

“Joe! Come on!”

Gwilym screamed after Joe but he still left his own common room and went straight outside. To his surprise, after he made a few steps, he heard his name being called again and cursed inside.

“Hey Joe, wait up!” It was Lucy that run after him when she saw him walk outside the castle. Once she reached him, she side hugged him. “What’s up?” She asked cheerfully and took a good look at him. “Oh, you look upset. Something wrong?” She let go of him and just walked beside him still looking at him but he wasn’t looking back. 

“It’s nothing. School stuff.” He answered dryly and tried to pick up his pace but she did too.

“Hey… Joe. Sorry I kind of took over Ben these last few days.”

“Weeks.” He stopped walking. “Go on…”

“Okay…” Lucy laughed, she knew Joe was hating her but she understood. “I missed him, that’s all. We used to spend a lot of time together and suddenly we were countries apart. He’s family to me. And also I’m new… I don’t know anyone else here. I was actually really hoping I could be friends with you before coming here, you know?” She said sweetly.

“Really? Why?”

“Of course! Ben talked about you a lot during the summer and when he wrote to me. He told me all about your adventures and all the troubles you get into. I actually got a little jealous too at first!”

“I’m _not_ jealous.”

“Yeah, sure buddy…” Lucy laughed. “Ultimately I understood you were important to him and I was happy he found someone here that didn’t make him feel lonely without me.”

“Wow… you are kinda wise I guess.” Joe had to admit, what he didn’t want to admit is that he now officially felt like an asshole.

“Yeah duh, I’m a _girl_.” Lucy mocked him and Joe finally laughed at something she said after two weeks of meeting her. “We cool?”

“We cool.” Joe nodded. He genuinely felt better.

“Great, cause I have baby pictures of Ben. The embarrassing kind.”

“If you would’ve lead with that I would’ve liked you instantly.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment to save a car's life.


	4. The Invisible Man.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys find themselves a little present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I say invisible "man". More like and over-size toddler.

_**[First Year]** _

 

 

After their little adventure at Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, the four boys became inseparable and got into all sorts of troubles together. They checked that corridor Headmaster Beach warned them about to find a wall full of magical portraits that were hidden from the rest of the school for some reason and Rami said he would find out later. They also unintentionally wrecked a room of requirements that appeared to them when roaming the seventh floor of the castle and Joe said he really wanted a camera to take pictures at Quidditch games. Ben tried to cast a spell that he missed pronounced and books started to fly off of shelves. Fortunately, Gwilym sorted it and they got out of it safe and sound and the room disappeared after them.

Another time they accidentally broke out a hand-full of Cornish Pixies from a cage before one class that, again, Gwilym was able to sort out. He had the ability to keep calm in the most ridiculous and tense situations. It also helped that he was always ready for the other three, especially Ben and Joe, to make any stupid mess they could think of so it didn’t take him by surprise one bit.

“Mandrake or Mandragora is used to return those who have been Petrified to their original state.”

“Excellent, Mr. Lee. Mandrakes are also very dangerous. Their cry is lethal to anyone who hears it. Now, these are still only seedlings…” Professor Deacon was explaining. “…so their cry won’t kill you. But wear the earmuffs I procured for you for protection.” He pointed in front of the children and they all began to put them on.

While they were re-potting Mandrakes at the green house and Ben got his finger bitten by one, they started plotting their next adventure for the following weekend that was upcoming.

Gwilym suggested they went to the Astronomy tower and when the others asked him if there was something hidden or interesting there, he just shrugged “No, we just haven’t been and it’s a place that we are actually allowed to go and we haven’t yet.”

They argued about it for a while and finally decided that they in fact would go because Rami wanted to go too and that was half of them. It was kind of their only rule, if two of them wanted to do something, it was majority and it had to be done. Gwilym hated this rule but he had no say in it because only he was against it. Rami decided in favour because he knew Joe or, probably and, Ben would back him up if he wanted to do something stupid or dangerous. He always excused himself saying he wasn’t being reckless, it was just his curiosity.

When the weekend came, they had all agreed to meet up by Hufflepuff’s common room and when Gwilym arrived, he found the other three already there. It was weird because neither Ben nor Joe were punctual, not like him. He got suspicious and narrowed his eyes at them.

“Alright, what happened?” Gwilym inquired at them.

“What, we can’t be early too?” Joe asked with pretend offence.

“I don’t think you can, no. What are you guys up to? I thought we were just visiting the Astronomy Tower today.” Everyone shifted in their place. “We voted, it was majority. That was your rule, two is majority. Rami?” Gwilym narrowed his eyes at his friend.  

“We’re still going to the Astronomy Tower...” Rami reassured.

“We’re just going to take a… longer way there.” Ben finally chipped in and added.

There was a corridor on the way to the Astronomy tower they wanted to pass by. They heard they had a few locked doors and no one was technically allowed to go there but they wanted to see what it was all about. Rami investigated a little and he said he read that they were rooms for the professors who wanted to study forward in their field and that’s where they went to investigate which could mean they may find something interesting there.

“Wait, we’re not going _into_ this rooms. We are just passing by them.” Gwilym stated trying to get some sense into his friends’ heads, though that was a rather unlikely outcome. He tried non the less as they made their way to this place.

The other three look at each other.

“Come on Gwil! Live a little!” Ben exclaimed. “What if Professor May has one of those rooms? You could peek inside, see what he’s working on in his free time…” He smiled wide across to him, being at the end of the line as they were walking together. Rami opened his eyes big at Gwilym too because he hadn’t thought of it and now, he was too excited and wanted Gwilym to get excited too.

“That actually sounds rather good.” Gwilym took a finger to his chin looking ahead and nodding his head. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Joe turned to Ben who was by his side and high fived him. Sure, they could have done it anyway and dragged Gwilym along without him really wanting to be there but they rather had him wanting to do all those crazy things and enjoy himself rather than just tolerate them and get them out of troubles.

They finally arrived to the corridor without being caught and walked slowly and careful, wondering where they should begin snooping around. There weren’t many doors really, it was a rather short corridor, only six doors; three on each side. They decided they weren’t going to check them all just in case because they didn’t want to try their luck. Just two, maybe three so they went for the last ones at the end of the hallway.

 _“Alohomora.”_ Rami whispered and stroke the lock with his wand and it opened but they found nothing inside.

“It’s empty…” Ben stated disappointed.

“Maybe not.” Rami said. “It might be enchanted so no one can see what’s really in here. Let’s clear out, try another just in case.”

They all agreed and closed the door back and headed to the next. Rami did the same thing and the door didn’t open. He tried once more.

“Ugh, let me try…” Ben took out his own wand and did the exact same thing Rami did which made Rami roll his eyes, but nothing happened either.  They looked at each other and looked to the last door they were supposed to check out, then back to each other again. “Third time’s the charm?” Ben shrugged.

The four boys walked towards it and Rami did his thing again. This time the door opened and they went in. The room looked like an abandoned class room that no one had been in in years. They walked around and found some old books collecting dust here and there, a few pots, nothing much except…

“Hey guys!” Ben called out, they had split as they entered to check out the room. The other three gathered back next to him to take a look at what he had found. It was a brown paper package tied with a lighter brown string. What was curious about it was that it had a card on it. It read their four last names. ‘Hardy, Lee, Mazzello & Malek’ it was hand-written in beautiful black italics.

“This is at the very least suspicious.” Gwilym stepped back. Rami and Joe did the same taking some distance from the package, Ben kept staring.

“It’s for us, we should check it out.” Joe pitched in, he was notably excited.

“I don’t know Joe… it is a package in a room we shouldn’t be in.” Rami agreed with Gwilym.

“Yeah but it has our last names on it. The four of us… what are the odds?” Joe didn’t see it as suspicious, he was more of a “fate” kind of guy. If they were in the right place at the right time then so be it.

“I think we should leave it alone. What if it’s dangerous?” Gwilym suggested even though he was very curious.

“Or take it with us, say we found it somewhere else and bring it in to a professor. Maybe Professor Austin.” Rami counter argued.

“It’s a cloak.” The three boys turned around. As they were discussing the fate of the package Ben went ahead and opened it without bothering in asking them.

“What are you doing?! Put it back Ben!” Rami tried to reach the cloak but Ben was taller than him and pulled it away from his reach. Rami was frustrated.

“Relax! It’s just an old cloak. Maybe it’s a prank!” Ben was amused looking at the thing and he decided to put it on. Joe watched expectantly, Gwilym shook his head with his arms wrapped around himself and Rami covered his face.

“Ben!” Joe gasped pointing at his friend whose body had just disappeared and was only a floating head. The other two covered their mouths at the same time.

“What!? What is it?” Ben looked behind himself and saw nothing. He was puzzled.

“It’s an invisibility cloak!” Rami uncovered his mouth to say in a very high pitch pointing at Ben and then put his hand back over his mouth.

Ben took a good look at himself and in fact noticed his body was gone completely. “Oh for Merlin’s sake!” He lifted his head back up looking at Joe with a grin the ginger matched almost identically. Gwilym stepped behind them as Rami looked astonished and mumble something about reading about Invisibility Cloaks somewhere and watched Joe and Ben play a little with it.

 _“This cloak is now yours as it has been owned by others before you.”_ Gwilym read out loud the back of the card with their names on. _“It needs a new home and new adventures but it is meant to be used responsibly as well and it is your duty to take good care of it.”_ He finished, showing them the note. “No signing.” Gwilym gave the note to Rami who was reaching for it and he read it to himself again.

Joe had run off and Ben was chasing after him covering his head with the cloak to be completely invisible.

“Who could it be from?” Gwilym asked Rami, hopeless on catching the attention of the other two. Rami shook his head because he couldn’t think of anyone… it couldn’t have been a teacher… right? “Maybe one of our parents?”

“You think?” Rami doubted it.

“Look! I can lift things without the _Leviosá_ spell.” Ben was making a pot look like it was suspended in the air but he was just lifting it up.

“It’s _LeviÓsa_ , not _LeviosÁ_.” Gwilym corrected him despite his worry.

“Whatever, I don’t need it!” Ben screamed back while Joe was trying to catch the flying pot in stitches.

After letting them run around with the cloak, Rami and Gwilym urged them to settle down and help them figure out what to do with it. They struggled for a while and then they decided upon keeping the cloak but Gwilym insisted they absolutely had to use it responsibly so the consensus was one to three that Ben wasn’t allowed to use the cloak by himself. “Sorry Ben…” Joe felt a little bit guilty but the Slytherin wasn’t known for being very responsible, they were always keeping him in check. It’s true that they were only kids and Gwilym and Rami were maybe a bit too responsible and mature for their own good but it was for Ben’s own good and safety that they decided on this unanimously. Ben just huffed at them rolling his eyes almost to the back of his head. Lastly, they would take turns to keep the cloak and only use it in consensus. Not one of them were to use it by themselves without checking with at least one other member of the group. “Preferably Gwil.” Rami suggested.

“Well, can we leave now? I’m bored.” Ben was far off of them because when they singled him out to keep the cloak, he just lost interest in the rules and walked away. Still having it on himself, he kept playing around which made it difficult for Joe to concentrate because he wanted to play so bad too.

They agreed and Ben took the cloak off and gave it to Rami who requested to keep it first to do a little bit of research on it and the rest agreed. Well, Gwilym and Joe agreed, Ben just shrugged and walked out first. Joe run after him leaving Rami and Gwilym a few steps behind.

“This is going to bite us in the ass, isn’t it?” Joe whispered to Ben, looking back at the other two who were looking at the cloak as Rami folded it.

Ben smirked at Joe. “We’ll see…”

The four kids walked through the end of the corridor and finally headed to the Astronomy Tower.

**

“Are you sure this is safe, Jim?” Professor May asked Professor _Miami_ Beach. They were standing next to each other at the beginning of the corridor, watching the kids leave with the cloak.

“Yes, Brian, relax.” He nodded. “They are just curious children. I’ve been overseeing everywhere they went. They won’t get into any dangerous trouble.”

“What about the other kind of trouble?” Professor May crossed his arms on his chest, taking two fingers to his mouth, tapping it, squinting at his own friend.

Professor Beach laughed “You worry too much, Brian.” He patted his friend's shoulder and turn away to leave, Professor May following him close behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question: Would you like me to add more little Harry Potter references like the ones in this one? Let me know!  
> Oh also I invented this corridor.  
> Comment to save a car's life, Roger demands it!


	5. In The Lap of The Gods.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe doesn't have it as easy at school as he shows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fucking hate this chapter?

  
_**[Sixth Year]** _

 

 

Joe was mostly having the time of his life at school. Beginning his sixth year, he was proud about what he had achieved in spite of being a muggle born and not a terrific wizard. He tried hard though, and was thankful for his friendship with Rami and Gwilym who tutored him and helped him through tough times. It was difficult for him but he was persistent and wanted to find his place in this whole new world. By now he had begun a weekly small newspaper he was very proud of and dragged Lucy with him to it when she joined them the year before. He encouraged her to focus on a section dedicated to inspiring Witches, which he found some classes lacked of a little telling stories from a very male-centric perspective and Lucy knocked it out of the park with her investigation, having a little help from Rami. The two had been spending a lot of time together and they could all see they were falling for each other which now, Joe found actually adorable and not gross at all.

All that time Lucy and Joe spent together working on the newspaper made Ben a little jealous at first and it was hilarious to see but in the end, he adjusted well to the changes in the group dynamic and it didn’t take too long before Lucy spent most her time with Rami anyway. And Gwilym too.

But with the happiness also came sourness and even though Joe tried his best to be nice to other people there were still a few weary of him in particular for being muggle born. He was the target of a group of Slytherin students that were always at his tail, waiting for him to be separated from Ben to pull pranks and pester him. Lucky for Joe that rarely happened because he and Ben were practically attached to the hip. He was also fortunate of getting close to Lucy because these guys were also very scared of her too for some reason. Well, rather a simple reason, Lucy was scary when she got mad which wasn’t very often but it still happened a couple of times. Whenever he wasn’t with Ben he was probably with Lucy or a larger group and of course they were cowards and would never attack him in public so they mostly teased him, called him names and occasionally shove him or cast a silly spell if they found him by himself, but nothing too serious so he kept that to himself and specially didn't tell Ben about it. 

But there was this one time when he was about to meet Ben after they had two different classes and was walking down a corridor when he saw them coming towards him. The hall wasn’t particularly empty but he was walking by himself and they shoved him into a wall.

Ben was in fact at the end of that corridor and saw everything which made his blood boil with anger and run after them passing Joe on his way. He tried to stop Ben but with no use. As he was standing up he saw Ben grabbing the hood of one of the boys’ cloak, turned him around and punched him in the nose. The boy fell flat on his ass with a bleeding nose.

“Ben!” Joe pulled him back. “Are you insane!?”

“He could’ve hurt you!” Ben screamed, red faced and out of breath, his voice deep and hurt.

“That absolutely gives you no right to punch someone in the face, please, calm down.”

Joe urged Ben and pulled him away a little before he got any new ideas. The other two Slytherins were helping their friend up who was whining about his nose and his bloodied stained shirt. Other people started to gather around them, curious and whispering things but they stepped aside because they saw Professor Mercury approaching.

“What’s going on?” He stood between Ben and Joe and the three Slytherins.

“Hardy punched me in the face.” The boy cried out pointing at Ben.

“You started it!” Ben screamed taking a step forward being pulled back by Joe who was gripping his arm tightly.

“Alright, now, calm down darling.” Professor Mercury put an arm in front of Ben too, to prevent him of doing something stupid.

 A lot more people were gathering around them, including their other three friends that had just gotten out of a class they had together. They pull through students and stood behind Ben and Joe, they didn’t even need to ask what happened, it was fairly obvious.

“Was he bothering you, Joe?” Lucy asked out loud because she knew Joe wasn’t going to rat the other three out. “They always do that!” She was furious now, standing in front of Ben right next to Professor Mercury to address him properly. . Lucy was the only one who knew and she was sick of it and sick of Joe keeping it shut.

“Lucy, don’t…” Joe asked to Lucy, he didn’t want to make a thing out of it but she was determined.

“They’ve fixated on Joe, they are always shoving him here and there. They wait until he is alone and pull pranks on him, cast silly spells and charms on him. He never says anything.” Lucy said looking furious between the three boys and Professor Mercury. 

Ben was taken aback. He thought this incident was isolated. Yes, he knew they didn’t like Joe, he even heard them call him names behind their backs and he would call them out but he didn’t know it was… like this. “Joe? Is that true?” Joe shrugged, looking at his feet. “Why didn’t you say?”

“Um… I think it’s pretty obvious why I didn’t say…” Joe pointed at the boy with the bleeding nose in front of him, a little frustrated.

“Children, please.” Professor Mercury clapped for them to shut up. “You three have detention until further notice and I’m taking away points from Slytherin. Now take him to see the nurse.” He pointed at the three boys with one hand, the other resting on his hip. “Mr. Hardy, you too have detention.” Ben grunted in response. “And I want you to see me after classes in my office.” He told the group of friends. “We are _all_ having a _little_ chat. Now please, see to your next classes everyone else. Come on, dears.” He clapped again and walked away.

Students started to disperse around them. Rami and Gwilym stood behind Joe rubbing his back and shoulders a little trying to comfort him. They knew Joe was being harassed, maybe not at the same extent as Lucy but not as little as Ben. Lucy on her part, was standing between Ben and Joe because they were looking at each other ready to start screaming towards one another.

“Oh no, you two are _not_ fighting over this.” She had her arms crossed over her chest and looked dead serious at the other two.

“You’ve been lying to me…” Ben told Joe, with a mix of hurt and anger.

“No, I haven’t Ben. I didn’t want you to get in trouble for this. I’m fine! It’s fine! Nothing really bad ever happened, _really_. Believe it or not I _actually_ can take care of myself.”

“It didn’t look like it when you almost had your brains painting the wall!”

“Oh for fucks sakes, it was just a shove!”

“What did I _just_ say? You’re _not_ fighting over this.” Lucy interrupted them as they started shouting at each other again. “You two have very odd ways of showing you care about each other, seriously.” She turned to Ben. “And you… Benjamin, if I hear you resort to violence to solve something ever again **_I_** will disintegrate every bone in your body for a week, is that clear?”

Rami and Gwilym kind of hid behind Joe and they both made a mental note not to make Lucy angry ever. Joe was looking somewhere else and Ben went back and forth looking at Lucy and Joe. He was very angry and frustrated and felt like they didn’t understand him. How could they not understand him? He was worried and he was protecting his best friend. This wasn’t wrong. _He_ wasn’t wrong.

His words failed him and just grunted again and walked away.

“I better see you at Professor Mercury’s office Ben!” Lucy screamed after him and he flipped them all off. “Uh! Rude, Benjamin!” Lucy was about to go after him but felt a tug on her cloak. Joe shook his head at her. “I can’t believe him.”

“Let it go Luce…” Gwilym said. “Let’s get Joe to his next class and head to ours. Come on…”

Gwilym put an arm around Joe’s shoulders and walked him away. Rami stepped forward to Lucy, looking her in the eye. “Are you okay?”

Lucy’s face was tight but soften as she saw Rami’s worried eyes on her. “I’m fine… It’s just… he can’t go off like this, it’s not okay.” They started walking side by side behind Joe and Gwilym.

“He knows, he’s just upset and worried. We’ll make sure he’s okay after we see Professor Mercury after classes.”  

Rami reassured her and in an act of bravery held her hand. She looked down at their hands together and back at him. He was worried she would let go but quite the opposite, she held his hand tighter and smiled.

**

“Mr. Hardy…” Professor Mercury started talking as they gathered in his office. His desk was in an upper level from the students sits and he was standing there, hands resting on his hips above the five friends. Standing next to him was Professor Taylor. “Your detention will consist in helping Professor Taylor with maintaining Quidditch equipment and whatever he needs from you every day you don’t have Quidditch practice after class until he sees fit.” Ben simply nodded. “As for the rest of you, dears. I applaud the fact that you’ve been protecting and taking care of each other.” He said, his eyes focusing on Lucy for a moment. “But what happened was unacceptable and I urge you to speak up in these situations darlings. We don’t want anything bad happening to you. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Mr. Mercury” They said in unison.

“Mr. Mazzello…” He walked down to their level and stood in front of Joe, looking gently at him. “I understand.” He said warmly. “And if you ever need to talk to an adult my door is always open.”

“Thank you, Mr. Mercury.” Joe nodded.

“You can call me Fred, darling.”

“Nop…” Professor Taylor intervened.

“No, you can’t call me Fred, right, right.” Professor Mercury gave a little laugh, covering his mouth with one of his hands a little. Everyone else chuckled too, Professor Taylor shaking his head. “Oh alright, come on now, go have some fun and relax. Try thinking about something else.” He put his hands on Joe’s shoulders and then undid his hair a little. “We’ll see you tomorrow in class.”

 **

“We’ll help out with your homework…” Rami offered Ben, catching up to him as he left the room first. Gwilym followed closely.

“Yeah, just make sure you take notes on those classes we don’t share. I mean you should take notes in all your classes because it makes it easier for you to learn, not everything is on the books….Ow…! you elbowed me” Gwilym complained as he was being interrupted.

“You are ranting.” Rami told him. He had to elbow Gwilym because he wasn’t looking at him and his subtle signs to make him shut up.

“Right, sorry. Anyway…we’ll help.”

Ben nodded, a little pout formed on his lips but he didn’t say a word.

“If you need anything else just… you let us know.” Rami looked at Gwilym and then back at Ben who kept simply nodding.

“We are actually kind of proud of you… for standing up for Joe like that.” Ben finally looked up at Gwilym.

“Not that we condone violence, it was wrong what you did. But those jerks deserved it honestly.” Rami added. “Let’s just… hope we never get to this again. Next time we’ll figure some better way to deal with it.”

Close behind the three of them were Joe and Lucy listening to their conversation in silence. Lucy bumped her shoulder into Joe’s to get his attention, he looked at her and she pointed to Ben with her head. She wanted Joe to go talk to him. Joe hesitated for a second.

“Hey guys, we have Astronomy homework to do due tomorrow, let’s head to the library.” She said, clearly talking to Rami and Gwilym. They nodded and waved at Ben. Before she followed her friends, she walked up to Ben and gave him a kiss on his cheek and looked at him without saying a word. After all the years they’ve known each other, sometimes they didn’t even need words.

Joe walked up to Ben and as a good sign for the red head, the blond didn’t walk away from him. They walked in silence for a while until they got outside the castle towards a tree where there weren’t other students around. They just stood there in front of one another, Ben kicking at the grass, searching for words. He wasn’t very good at them.

“Ben…” Joe tried him.

“It’s not fair.” He said frustrated, still managing his feelings so he’d get them out in a way it made sense. “You shouldn’t go through this shit.”

“You are absolutely right. I shouldn’t… but it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Why?” Ben didn’t understand Joe one bit.

“They are sad little men. No one cares about them. They don’t have real friends… unlike me.”  

Ben pursed his lips and nodded. He wasn’t sure he agreed with Joe but he was somewhat right about what he was saying. “So… how long will you be mad at me?”

“Mad? Are you crazy!? I’m not mad at you, idiot.”

“Oh…” Ben finally looked up at Joe, a side smile on his face. “I thought…”

“I’m not mad. And I agree with Rami and Gwil. It was pretty awesome what you did. You shouldn’t have and you better never do it again… but his face as he went down to the floor, that shit was priceless.”

Ben chuckled and nodded. “Alright. I promise I’ll never _amuse_ you again with violence.”

“Asshole!” Joe punched him on the arm way softer than Ben pretended.

“No, don’t hit me. Lucy is going to disintegrate your bones if you do.”  

They both laughed finally loosening up a little and they were both definitely relieved the whole ordeal was over for now.

“Hey can I hug… you?” Joe asked. It felt weird to ask, he didn’t know why he did it.

“Why are you asking me for permission to hug me?”

“I know, that was stupid right? Anyway… um… okay, I’m gonna hug you now.”

They hugged each other, tightly too. Joe being slightly shorter than Ben could easily rest his chin on one of the blonde’s shoulders. Ben, was slightly resting his head on Joe’s. Their breathing was paced together, their chest moving up and down between them and a little smile on both their faces. The closeness felt good and reassuring after the day they had.

They were _them_ again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a couple of things.  
> I finally decided what direction I'm taking with this story. I don't know if you noticed but I tend to make one chapter back, one chapter forward, if that makes sense. The un-even chapters are gonna have a proper plot that's gonna develop and is gonna be a bit more dramatic like this one. The others are gonna be more fun and light.  
> Also, if you wanna picture Queen as professors here I'm picturing them mid 30s.  
> I think that's it for now, let me know what you think about this chapter cause I actually kind of fucking hate it. 
> 
> PS, I also posted another story yesterday! It's a one shot for now, possibly a two parter but I don't know yet. (It's called "God Knows" if you guys wanna check it out.)


	6. You're my best friend.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get someone in trouble for a change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of things going on in this chapter and I think it's a mess.

_**[Third Year]** _

 

 

 

It was the last class of the day, _Muggle Studies_ , with Professor Prenter who they all hated. Yes, even Gwilym and Rami hated the man. Joe was at the front row of Hufflepuff sits, Ben next to him on the other side of row sits from Slytherin. Rami and Gwilym sitting on the last row of sits of their respective houses immediately in the next row after them, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor being the first bunch of sits. They always sat like that so they could sit somewhat together.

Joe was furious as always in this class. Professor Prenter didn’t understand a single thing about Muggles and he hated them and it showed. Not many of them noticed this and the ones who did were simply too afraid to say anything. It was obvious his classes weren’t informative but rather manipulative so they’d think muggles were dumb or evil even.

He was going on and on about how Muggles did _this_ or _that_ because they didn’t have magic, implying they were pathetic and useless with his tone but not with his words until it slipped off of him and he said that it was because they were an inferior species than them like it was an obvious and universal fact.

“That’s not true!” Joe interrupted Professor Prenter. He stood up, angry this time. It wasn’t the first time he interrupted this class but this was different. This was the last straw for him.

“Oh boy, here we go.” Gwilym sighed, he knew this was going to happen sooner or later.

Professor Prenter walked up to him and Ben stood up too. Rami gave him a look that told him to sit but Ben ignored him.

“You never learn, do you Mazzello?” He said to Joe’s face. “What I say is what goes in this class. I’m the one teaching. If you don’t like it, then tough.”

“That’s… tyrannical and… and unfair. We deserve an unbiased education.” Joe complained as firmly as he could, given the fact that he was rather scared. He barely knew what those words meant but he spent enough time around Gwilym that he picked up a thing or two and he was certain those felt right for the moment.

“Those are big words for such a small _mudblood_ like you.” Professor Prenter had his face above Joe’s, very close.

“You can’t call him that.” Gwilym snapped and stood up behind Prenter. He wasn’t one for meddling, he wasn’t like Ben, but he hated that word.

“Class dismissed children.”

Everyone turned heads to the door, even Prenter. Professor Beach had just gotten inside the classroom. He gave the four friends a look so they stayed behind as well as Prenter who looked annoyed. A group of Slytherin students looked back, a smirk on their faces and they looked at their Professor who waved them away. Joe looked at them leave, a whole in the pit of his stomach formed but he tried to ignore it. Now the four of them were standing next to one another, both Professors standing in front of them.

“The boy is right, Paul. We chose you to be a part of this faculty to give these children the best education possible. That means it shouldn’t come with a tainted opinion on the subject. If you can’t do that then maybe you are not fit to teach it.”

“You are the one who’s not fit to run Hogwarts. It’s a disgrace.” Prenter said this and looked at Joe.

“Then it’s settled. As of now, you are no longer part of the teaching body of Hogwarts Paul. You have until the end of the day to collect your things and leave.”

Professor Beach said without an inch of fuss or worry but Prenter looked pissed. He grabbed a hold of the end of his robe and walked pass Beach and the four kids towards the door and opened it but before he left, he turned around. “You’ll regret this, Jim.” But he not only looked at Professor Beach but also looked at Joe.

Joe felt his blood freeze inside his body and his breath got caught inside his throat. He grabbed a hold of Ben’s robe sleeve for support, not really wanting to catch his attention but of course Ben felt the tug and thought Joe was calling for him and turned to look at him.

“What is it?” He asked Joe who looked pale. They all turned to him.

“Sorry, nothing. Wow… he really hates me, he doesn’t even know me.” Joe was still looking at the door where Prenter had left, still holding onto Ben unconsciously.

“Don’t worry Mr. Mazzello. He’s gone now and you were right.” Professor Beach tried to reassure him and Joe looked back at the man. “We’ll find a more suitable Professor for this class.”

They all left the classroom and Joe couldn’t shake the uneasiness off of him. It’s not that anyone could hurt him at school, right? He was just a kid, why would someone hurt _him_? He was insignificant. But to think of it he managed to get a Professor fired. It wasn’t him per se and it was the right thing to do but he did stand up to the man for a few classes. His complaints in class must have gotten to Professor’s Beach ears…

“Hey, you alright buddy?”

The four of them were walking through the corridors and the other three were talking but Joe wasn’t listening which caught their attention. Ben asked him but Rami and Gwilym were looking at him as well.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I trailed off for a minute. Sorry. What were you saying?” Joe shook his head and worries away for now, paying attention to his friends.

“I have Quidditch practice.” Ben stated. “Rami and Gwilym are going to stay behind and study, we’ll meet at dinner. How about you? Wanna join me?”

“Yes!” Joe said excited. The perfect excuse to leave his worries behind for a while and relax. “Can we stop by my room? I want to get the camera.”

They did exactly that, leaving Rami and Gwilym by the library, they headed to Hufflepuff’s common room. Ben wanted to wait outside but Joe insisted and sneaked him inside. Most of the students were either still in class, given theirs were cut short, or not back at all so Ben followed Joe up to the room he shared with a few other Hufflepuffs. Joe shrugged his robe off and left it on the bed as he looked for the magical camera he had found on the room of requirements the year before.

“Hey Joe, what’s this?”

Ben was looking through Joe’s desk. He had pictures of his family. Weird pictures that didn’t move. He picked up a portrait and shook it a little but nothing happened. He also had a banner that read _“NYY”_ and a dark blue cap with the same insignia. But what caught his attention the most was a small white ball with red sewing lines that he picked up and showed Joe.

“Oh… that’s a baseball! I can’t believe I haven’t shown you that yet.” Joe took the camera, hung it around his neck and walked up to Ben.

“How does it fly?” Ben shook the ball a little and then dropped it expecting it to do something but it just fell flat on the floor and rolled off to Joe’s feet. He picked it up with a smile and gave it back to Ben.

“It doesn’t. I told you about it, remember? It’s like when you hit the _Bludger_ but in baseball someone throws the ball at you for you to hit it. It doesn’t just fly towards you. Or you can just play catch with it. I did it with my dad and my brother a lot, we still do it sometimes when I’m home.” Joe left the baseball on Ben’s hand and walked back a few steps. “Throw it to me.”

Ben looked at the ball like it was supposed to tell him how or do something but it didn’t. It was just there in his hand. So, he threw it towards Joe and he caught it. Then Joe threw it back. And again, and again a few times.

“This is basically just for practice. It’s silly I know, compared to Quidditch that’s like every sport in one and then you also fly on broom. But I don’t know, it’s tradition for me and I love it.”

Ben caught the ball one last time and put it back where he found it because they had to go. “We could play… catch?” He asked Joe to confirm that’s the correct name and Joe nodded. “Outside sometime, if you want?” He saw how much baseball meant to Joe and maybe they could share that.

“You’d like that? It is much more fun if you play it outside, I promise.”

“Yeah let’s do it.”

They left for the Slytherin common room then for Ben to pick up his Quidditch equipment and Joe really did not want to go in there so he waited in the hallway that was still empty but as he waited there for Ben a couple of Slytherin boys from his class were coming back to their common room.

“Oh… look at that. Mazzello is here.”

“Leave me alone.” Joe took a step back, looking impatiently for Ben to come back out and holding on tight to the stripe of his camera.

“What d’you got there? A little toy?”

The boy took a swing of his hand a pushed Joe’s camera down so hard the strip got loose and it fell on the floor breaking. Joe held back his tears of anger and just kneeled down to pick it up. Luckily the boys left him, laughing as they did.

Joe took his wand out, “Reparo.” He said out loud and Ben came out of the common room as the camera was putting itself back together.

“What happened?” The blond, in full Quidditch gear, asked him. Holding onto his Firebolt broom.

“Dropped it. I’m such a klutz.” Joe answered trying to keep it together so Ben didn’t notice he was lying.

Ben just chuckled and offered him a hand to help him stand. “Works okay?” He eyed the camera in Joe’s hand when it looked fixed up and Joe took it up to his own face, waving at Ben to walk back a little, he focused on him and snapped a photo.

“Seems to be working okay, yeah.”

Joe considered skipping the practice altogether though. He knew not all Slytherin students were like those bullying him but he didn’t really feel safe around them and there he was going to be, all alone watching them play. But if he bailed now, he’d have to explain why to Ben. He wasn’t one to lie, specially to Ben so he walked with him to the pitch and once there, of course, there were some objections.

“Do you have a problem, mate?”

Ben stepped in between a couple of his team mates that were looking at Joe and whispering between them. Joe stood back and without noticing Professor Taylor was standing next to him, arms crossed watching his students. He looked down to Joe and then back listening in on the conversation.

“He’s a Hufflepuff. What if he goes on telling about our strategies?” One of them finally told Ben.

“He won’t, he’s my _best friend_.” Ben said and Joe heard from where he was standing, he never called him that before and Joe felt warm inside, a shy smile forming on his lips. “He just wants to take pictures. ‘s all.” Ben saw Professor Taylor joined them. “Professor, do you mind him?”  

“I hear you got Prenter fired today…” Professor Taylor told Joe so only he could hear him, Joe wanted to protest but he didn’t give him time to do it. “I hated that asshole. Oh… sorry I’m not supposed to curse around you guys.” Joe chuckled. “He can stay, you’re all gonna have to step up your game because he might be my new favourite student now. Come on, let’s begin!” Professor Taylor screamed and approached them to start the practice.

Quidditch was played. Pictures were taken. All was well… _for now._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you thought because I'm very self concious about this one.  
> Is there too much going on or was it fine?  
> Also I'm giving away little details on where the main plot is going. Let's see if you catch it.  
> Enjoy this cause next chapter is NOT fun. 
> 
> ps, I revised this a MILLION times but I kept adding stuff so I'm sorry if it's poorly written.


	7. Flick Of The Wrist.

_**[Sixth Year]** _

 

 

Ben was miserable and he didn’t hide it. He mopped around the castle next to his friends, got together with them but didn’t study or really engage in whatever they were doing. He honestly just wanted to crawl in bed and not leave it. He didn’t understand how they could just go on doing things when  _Joe wasn’t around_.  

How could they concentrate while their friend was suffering and they weren’t there for him to help him out and comfort him? It was eating at Ben inside. He wanted to go with Joe. He even tried it. He talked to Professor Beach and his parents and while Professor Beach was fine with him missing a few classes, his family wasn’t as much because Christmas Break was around the corner and they were taking him away on a trip so he wouldn’t have much time to catch up if he missed classes. A Christmas trip… so now he was also going to be away for that too.  

Lucy, Gwilym and Rami tried to cheer him up. Lucy didn’t leave his side, she even considered asking to be put in Slytherin. It wasn’t allowed, she knew that, and no one ever asked for it but she had to try something. Gwilym and Rami gave all rights of The Invisibility Cloak to her so she could sneak around and check on Ben when he didn’t want to leave his common room.  

They were a rough couple of weeks before Joe came back to school and they all hugged him for a solid half an hour.  

“I’m gonna miss him so much but… I’m so glad to be back with you guys.”  

Joe’s dad had been sick for a while but it still was so sudden when he passed away two weeks before then. They all knew how close Joe was to his dad and they couldn’t phantom in their 16 year-old minds how he was feeling or how to make him feel better.  

“My mom’s talking to Professor Beach… my family is moving back to America but she wants me to stay here and finish school.” Joe started telling them. “I’m sad to leave her but she’s right and it’s the best thing we can do. My dad wouldn’t have wanted me to leave Hogwarts or you guys.” 

They all smiled at him and hugged him again for a while. Then Lucy was the first to talk, holding Joe’s hands on her own.  

“We love you so much.” They all nodded in agreement. “And I know this goes without saying but anything you need… just ask, we’re here for you for anything, from homework to late night talking or… hell even crying. Or just to stay with you in silence. I don’t know. I really can’t imagine how you must be feeling but we’ll make everything in our power to make you feel better.”  

Joe rubbed his eyes preventing tears from coming out and hugged Lucy tightly whispering a weak  _“thank you”_  in her ear. She let go of Joe and took a step back joining the other three boys and they all looked at Ben to say something. Ben got anxious, rubbing his neck with his hand. He knew he had to say something. He even wanted to but what? Anything he could come up with would surely sound dumb or unimportant.  

“Ben  _missed_  you.” Lucy finally said, after a few awkward seconds, almost like she was accusing him of something. “And he was really worried about you and how you were doing.” 

Rami and Gwilym wanted to laugh. They didn’t know if it was appropriate or not but it was hilarious to watch Ben struggle, the poor teenager fighting to understand his own feelings. Luckily the one to laugh was actually Joe, and relived they all did.   

“I know you tried to be there and it’s what matters.” Joe told Ben. Rami had sent him a couple of Owls with updates like how Gwilym was taking his classes with a  _Time Turner_  he requested from Professor Austin and how Ben tried to get out of school but couldn’t and he was mopping around and missing him a lot like the rest of them.  

“Joe… I’m so sorry…” Ben was finally in front of his friend, a knot on his throat as he looked at Joe in the eye and saw how much pain the boy was in. He wanted to fix it, to fix Joe. But how could he? He was also just a boy. Ben knew in that moment he would do whatever Joe asked of him just to see him happy.  

“Are you going to give me a hug or not?”  

The question caught Ben by surprise but he didn’t hesitate for a second. He took a step forward and embraced his friend in a loving hug. The other three smiled at the sight. They knew Joe was far from okay but this was a strong beginning for him to be and they also would do anything for their friend to be happy again.  

Joe didn’t consider himself a strong person but he was about to find out how wrong he was and how much these four people were going to make him even stronger.  

***** 

The friends got Joe slowly back on track with the classes he missed in the following weeks and quickly enough it was Christmas Break. Joe was staying at Hogwarts because his mom couldn’t afford to make him travel to The States only for two weeks, and getting to New York for Christmas was chaos anyway. Ben and Lucy’s family had a Christmas trip planned and they had to leave. Ben was very angry about it and tried to get out of it but it was impossible. Rami and Gwilym were also going home to see their families but they promised Joe to come back earlier as soon as Christmas festivities were done so he wouldn’t be alone so much.  

In the weeks after Joe’s dad passed, they really smothered him with affection, never leaving his side. They’d pick him up in the mornings, pick him up from classes, invaded Hufflepuff’s common room at all hours to be with him, they were his shadow. Joe was grateful for these bunch of dorks he got as his best friends, they were nothing but selfless and loving and he couldn’t believe his luck. The universe took his dad away and that was the worst thing that could have ever happen to him but he knew he wasn’t going to be short on love in his life as long as he had these four people in it.  

Still, when both Gwilym and Rami offered to take him in for Christmas, swearing their families would love to have him, he turned them down. As much as he loved the affection he was given and how it helped him adjust to life again, he still had some things to process and he was looking forward to having some time on his own, in the practically empty castle, both to catch up on school work he missed and to grieve by himself. Rami and Gwilym made him swear that if he needed for them to either come pick him up or come back, he would let them know and they would do either and so, he swore to them and his friends left him to spend the Holidays with their families.  

During the first week he got a letter from Rami every single day. He would tell him about Christmas at The Maleks and how his family and Gwilym’s finally met and they hit it off instantly so they were seeing each other a lot during the break. And always whishing he was there as well and insisting they could come and pick him up whenever. Joe didn’t replay to every letter since he didn’t have much to tell, he spent his time either sleeping, eating, studying or just walking around the castle by himself.  

Ben and Lucy would also send him letters and more importantly for Joe, pictures of their trip. Silly ones of them both making funny faces or places and magical creatures they were visiting.  

Joe did write to Rami, as well as Ben and Lucy, when he found that Professor Deacon also stayed behind during the break and he invited him to join him and other  _Huffies_  for dinner one night. He was a really interesting man and he told a few stories about how Professor May, Taylor, Mercury, Austin and himself would get into all sorts of troubles when they attended Hogwarts together and Joe was reminded of them five. He promised to tell them all about it when they got back.  

Christmas Eve came around quickly and Joe spent it in his common room hidden away from the students and few faculty members that were around celebrating. Lucky for him, the domestic elves at the kitchen prepared him a feast so he could just stay in and read letters from his friends, open a few presents they sent him and when the clock turned 12 and Christmas Eve turned to Christmas, it found him in bed, hugging a picture of himself and his dad and crying.  

Right before New Year’s Eve, the school was beginning to get crowded again. There were a few days left of the Holiday Break but his class mates from sixth year, as well as a lot of students from the last year, were coming back to start preparing for the upcoming very hard tests they had ahead.  

It was the day when Rami and Gwilym were supposed to come back when  _it happened._  

Joe was outside, reading a book Rami had recommended him to read to prepare for Professor Mercury’s transfiguration class when he saw his school nightmares had returned from their Holiday Break. Those three fucking Slytherin boys that had been at his tail for so long now. He didn’t pay them no mind but they approached him anyway. 

“Please fuck off.” Joe said without looking up from his book. 

“Oh... you call your  _daddy_  with that mouth?”  

Joe couldn’t believe what he heard. How could these guys be  _so_ cruel? Joke with something like that? That was some next level asshole shit. He wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of a reaction though. He got up from the grass and started to walk back inside the castle, hugging his book tight to his chest and wishing they would leave him alone this time.  

“What’s up Mazzello?” One of them shouted after him. “Your  _faggot boyfriend,_   _Hardy,_  isn’t around to defend you so you run away like the little coward  _muddblood_  you are?”  

He froze right then and there, his back at them as he heard them laugh at him. Insulting him? He was fine with that, he was used to it, he didn’t care what they thought anyway. But insulting  _Ben_...? He suddenly understood why Ben got so angry whenever anyone picked on him because he was feeling the same thing now.  

Joe turned around and stomp towards the three boys who kept laughing and were unfussed by his anger and worst; they were amused. They looked at each other and still laughing one of them took out his wand and waved it a Joe. 

 _“_ _Alarte_ _Ascendare_ _”_  

Suddenly Joe was lifted up in the air and thrown down to the floor violently. The boys didn’t even wait for him to hit the ground, they scattered and left Joe lying there crying in pain and frustration.  

 

*** 

“Please don’t tell him.” Joe had been pleading to Rami and Gwilym for the millionth time in the last couple of days. They were staying with him at the infirmary.  

Joe was fine. Nurse Hutton fixed his broken arm in a day but Joe refused to give away who hurt him, even though Rami and Gwilym knew exactly who they were, so he had him stay at the infirmary for his own safety mostly. He tried to reassure them that they were probably done attacking him after this and insisted they forget about the whole ordeal but Rami and Gwilym were pissed. They couldn’t go against their friend’s wish but they knew Ben and Lucy could so they decided to wait to be all together to take care of the situation.  

“There’s no way we can’t tell Ben or Lucy about this. Everyone knows, Joe! They will kill us both if they don’t hear from us first as soon as they get here.” Gwilym protested at Joe’s silly request. 

“I sent them an Owl so they meet us here as soon as they arrive.” Rami added.  

“Ben is going to get himself expelled.” Joe pleaded again. 

“We won’t let him. We’ll get Professor Beach or Professor Mercury, he was really cool last time.” Rami said. “We’ll sort this out, we’ll get  _them_  expelled. They are dangerous people, Joe. They shouldn’t be here.”  

When the doors of the infirmary slammed open, Lucy stomped inside clutching Rami’s note on her fist with tears, Ben was right behind her.  

“Tell me no one did this to you or I swear to Merlin I will get them thrown in Azkaban, I don’t care if they are sixteen years old.” Lucy said angrily as she approached Joe’s bed. Ben was too worried to say anything and wishing hard this was just a silly accident. 

“I was  _Foster_ and his goons again.” Rami said. “I thought we could get Professor Mercury to help us talk to Professor Beach?” He was calm, they didn’t need anyone else in hysterics. He had to be composed for his friends. “Explain what happened.”  

“What’d he say to you? He said something to you, didn’t he?” Ben asked. He knew there was no way they’d do something that could really hurt Joe unless Joe was going to defend himself from something. And that something had to be important. It had to be something they said that finally got the reaction they wanted out of him. “Joe!” Ben screamed at him but Joe wasn’t looking back. “Rami?”  

“He said something about his dad...” Gwilym spoke up.  

“Are you joking!?” Ben kept his eyes at Joe but the red head wouldn’t still look back. 

“But then he said something about  _you_.”   

And that was it for Ben. He stormed out the door and locked them inside the infirmary with his wand so they wouldn’t follow him. Or at least give him a good first start. Lucy grunted and cursed at him but luckily for them, Rami also had his wand on him and opened the door.  

“Wait, we can’t go stop him ourselves, he won’t listen to us. I don’t want us fighting him.” Gwilym said.  

“Professor Taylor.” Lucy suggested and they all started running looking for the man. 

*** 

Ben run around the castle looking for Foster and he finally found him, along with his goons, down at the corridor that lead to the Slytherin common room. There were also a few people there but Ben didn’t care, he was in a war path. He waved his wand and separated the other two boys from Foster, flying them against the walls and Foster turned around to face Ben, the smug smirk that he always sported, completely gone. He was terrified.  

Ben put his wand on his front pocket and grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt. He punched Foster in the face and threw him flying on the floor. Foster crawled back, he couldn’t even talk, ask for mercy, he was more than terrified. Ben straddle him and gave him a few more punches but he took his time for Foster to look back at him after every one of them. He felt an idea like a whisper crawl inside his mind and he took his wand out. He put it to Foster’s throat as he breathed in and out heavily. ‘This is right’ he thought, ‘if I do this, he won’t hurt anyone ever again.’ Their eyes were fixed on each other and that’s when Foster started crying. 

“I won’t bother him ever again.” He cried at Ben. “I got it now. Let me go.”  

Why? Why did  _he_  have to let go? Foster never let go. He spent six years torturing his friend, called him names, shoved him. He finally really hurt him. Why didn’t  _he_  stop? Why did Ben had to stop now? No.  _This was right_. 

“Ben. Stop...” He felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“ _He_  didn’t stop.” Ben said,  grinding his teeth  inside his mouth so tight it hurt him and he had tears in his eyes although he didn’t notice them. “He  _never_  stopped. Why do _I_  have to stop?”  

“Think about what’ll happen if you don’t stop. What happens after you really hurt him? What happens to your friends if you get expelled? It’s your choice to make, Ben.”  

Professor Taylor was standing behind him and trying to talk him out of really harming Foster. Over the years teaching the Hardy boy and knowing his family personally and their history, his reaction didn’t surprise him. But he knew Ben. Ben reminded him of himself, how he would fly off the handle easily as a young boy and how he carried that well into his adult hood. But being a teacher at Hogwarts changed his perspective on life and even though he had a fragile temper, he knew better now and he wanted to teach Ben to know better as well. 

Ben finally took away his wand from Foster’s jugular and stood up. He looked at him from above, still enraged. He gave him a last kick in the legs and Foster started to crawl back away to try and stand up.  

“Go to Headmaster Beach’s office and wait for me there. We’ll talk to your parents. You’re not welcome at Hogwarts anymore.” Professor Taylor told Foster, standing a few steps behind Ben with his arms crossed on his chest. Foster finally stood up and left without saying a word.   

“Are you going to expel me as well?” Ben asked still not able to face Professor Taylor. There was a part of him telling him he was right, that what he did and what he was about to do was right. But there was also a part him that was ashamed he let anger get the best of him. Again.  

“I should... but I’ll stick my neck out for you.” Ben finally turned over. “Let’s get you back to your friends, they are worried sick.” 

*** 

They left Joe all alone in the infirmary. When Rami, Gwilym and Lucy run after Ben, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do so he stayed behind, not wanting to get anyone into any more trouble. He was pacing back and forth, fidgeting with his fingers, scared and worried and there was something he couldn’t get off of his mind. Foster’s words sounded loud inside his head over and over, they had been for the last couple of days, he didn’t know how to turn them off.  

 _Faggot boyfriend_ . Foster had said.  _Boyfriend_ . No... it’s nothing,  Joe  told himself.  _Boyfriend_ .  Ben was his best friend.  _Boyfriend_ . Foster didn’t know what a friend looked like because he didn’t really have one.  _Boyfriend_ . It was classic toxic masculinity that didn’t let Foster see that men could care about each other without being romantically involved.  _Boyfriend_ .  _Boyfriend. Boyfriend_.  

The doors of the infirmary opened and Ben, along with their three friends and Professor Taylor, got inside. Lucy was hugging Rami by his shoulders, hiding her face away in his neck and Gwilym was behind them. Professor Taylor was next to them and Ben was at the front. Joe walked up to him, noticing the blood on his hands and took them between his own.  

“Oh Ben...” Joe run his fingers through Ben’s red knuckles.  

“Mr. Hardy is in real trouble.” Professor Taylor said and Joe shifted his eyes from Ben’s to him. “I think Professor Beach is going to understand but he’ll have to face consequences, this wasn’t the first time he’s done this.” He softened his tone a little. “I wished you’ve come to me first...”  

 “We should all face the consequences.” Gwilym stepped up. “We’re all as guilty as he is. We waited for him to do something and we did nothing. We could’ve stopped him and we didn’t. We could’ve sort this out before he got here. But we did nothing.” He felt guilty... deep inside they were all so angry they actually wanted Ben to do something horrible to that boy. All of them except for Joe who was the one who was actually hurt.  

“I’ll deal with Foster now and we’ll talk about this first thing in the morning tomorrow at Professor Beach’s office. Get some rest now.” Professor Taylor left them alone and headed out of the infirmary.  

As soon as Professor Taylor was out the door, Lucy stepped away from Rami, visibly crying and went to hug Ben. “I was so scared he would do something to you.” She said, her words muffled on Ben’s chest but everyone understood her perfectly. “You’re such an idiot Ben!”  

Ben just rested his chin on Lucy’s head, hugging her with one arm but he didn’t say anything or look at anyone.  

On Joe’s eyes Lucy was the bravest of them all. She said exactly what she was thinking and did exactly what she wanted. She never thought twice. And Joe was thinking a million times over.  _Boyfriend_ . He was looking at Ben.  _Boyfriend_ . Ben and his red knuckles.  _Boyfriend_. Ben and his red eyes.  

 _Boyfriend._  

No, Ben wasn’t his boyfriend. Of course he wasn’t.  

Then why, after everything that just happened, _Joe was there wishing he was?_  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... some shit went down.  
> I'd love to hear your thoughts. And I'm sorry this was so long.  
> Hope you like it and thanks for reading!


	8. News of The World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some soft boys after last chapter.

**_[Third Year]_ **

 

 

 

It was a beautiful day at the beginning of autumn in their third year at Hogwarts and they were enjoying one of the last few days of warm weather before the cold hit the castle inevitably.  

It had been a couple of weeks since Joe taught Ben how to play  _catch_  and it was all Ben wanted to do in their spare time. Joe was more than happy about it, of course. Rami and Gwilym on the other hand would just sit around them reading or talking.

This time they were practicing a few charms with their wands, Gwilym was teaching Rami some of the ones they used around his house that were easy enough. The four of them having fun in their own way.  

“I’ve been thinking about doing something kind of stupid...” Joe started telling Ben who immediately smiled at the statement. 

“Yes, you should totally do it.” 

“I didn’t tell you what it was yet!” Joe chuckled, catching a ball and throwing it back at Ben. 

“You said ‘stupid’, I’m sold on it already.” 

“I’m serious!” 

“Alright! Tell me then.” They were giggling like the couple of teenagers they were, gaining looks from Rami and Gwilym from time to time.  

“Some preppy schools in America have like a school newspaper...” Joe started explaining to a very confused looking Ben that had no idea where this was going. “and I was thinking, what if Hogwarts had one too?” 

Joe suggested to Ben. It wasn’t like he knew a whole lot about private schools, quite the opposite in fact but he watched a lot of TV and movies growing up and during their breaks. There was also the fact he always wanted to write. He used to pretend he was a writer when he was little and always carried a little note book and pencil around.  

“What, like the Daily Prophet but just for Hogwarts?” Ben was curious. 

“Yeah, something like that, it’s stupid, right?” Joe was self-conscious about his idea. 

“I think it’s a great idea.” Ben shrugged Joe off catching the ball one last time before walking towards his friend. Joe waited for him with a shy smile, looking down. Ben pointed behind his shorter friend with his head and made him look up and turned his own head in the direction Ben was indicating. “There’s Professor May, why don’t you ask him about it?” He smiled encouragingly and Joe smiled back, then they started running towards the man. 

“Where are you going?” Rami screamed after them as him and Gwilym watched them run.  

“Joe’s got an idea!” Ben said all excited running backwards and pointed at Professor May behind him.  

“Oh no, no, no, no.” Gwilym jumped up and run after them, Rami following as well. Joe was going to cost him being Professor May’s favourite student with something idiotic and he would have to kill his friend. When they finally caught up with the other two, Joe was already talking. 

“Professor May...?  _May_ I pick your  _Brian_ ...” He pronounced the man’s name instead of brain, thinking he was hilarious and Ben chuckled next to him trying not to burst out with a louder  laugh. Gwilym behind him on the other hand was sweating bullets and he heard him whisper  _“oh, for Merlyn's sake”_  under his breath. 

“Hmm....” The man took a moment and the four boys stopped breathing. “that’s rather clever isn’t it? Pick your  _Brian_ ...” he nodded with a sweet smile and Ben and Joe did a  _low_  five while Rami and Gwilym internally face-palmed. “What can I do for you Mr. Mazzello?” 

“Did you know there are some schools in America that have their own newspaper?” Joe started explaining once again. Gwilym and Rami shared a very confused look. Were they hearing this right? 

“You know, like the Daily Prophet but with school news and such.” Ben chimed in excitedly. He didn’t know why he was, in fact, so excited about this. He didn’t give two shits about the news really. But he thought that if Joe was writing them, he might, because he was funny and interesting and he enjoyed anything Joe did. His friend could make anything better, or at least that’s how he saw it. 

“And I was thinking...” Joe continued. “Wouldn’t it be really cool to have our own Hogwarts newspaper? We can have students contributing with articles, we can have a quidditch section. Even Professors could contribute if they wanted to.”  

“Why is this the first time we are hearing about this?” Gwilym asked Joe while Professor May was entertaining this idea.  

“umm... I don’t know, I thought it was dumb at first but it kept popping inside my head and I finally told Ben and he seemed excited so I thought maybe it wasn’t that dumb.” He shrugged. Ben made him feel confident and it was honestly the only reason he was actually considering this.  

“It’s a rather good idea, you’ll find, actually. What do you think?” Professor May asked Gwilym and Rami because he really trusted them.  

“I agree, you could talk to my mom for a few tips.” Gwilym told Joe. “It’ll be a lot of work, I think. Are you sure about it?” 

“Mr. Lee is right. This can’t interfere with your school work. You’ll have to be able to manage both.”  

Professor May said and Joe wondered. He really wanted to do it. He wanted people to read what he had to say as well as giving others the chance to express themselves, give them a voice. But was it too much for him? Perhaps he was too young and inexperienced for such a challenge. Should he think this through?  

“We’ll help him. Whatever he needs.” Ben stopped Joe’s thoughts with his words. “If he really wants this, he has to give it a go.”  

Joe blushed a little, feeling that warmth he always felt whenever Ben showed him that he was there for him, showed him he supported him. He didn’t know if it was the greatest feeling in the world but it was as close as it got for Joe.  

“Ben is right.” Rami finally contributed to the conversation. “I think it’s a great idea and you should go for it and we’ll help out. It could be a monthly thing so you have time to collect everything and put it together.”  

“That’s very smart Mr. Malek.” Professor May said. “Let me know when you have something more concrete. I’ll let Headmaster Beach know about it, we can make an announcement at breakfast when you’re ready to start looking for contributors.”  

“That’ll be awesome, yeah. Thanks Professor May!” Joe said, now extremely excited about the prospect of his own little newspaper with the help of his friends.  

Professor May left the four friends by themselves again and headed back to the castle. Ben and Joe were sharing ridiculously exciting looks between each other and Rami was excited as well. But Gwilym was uneasy.  

“I feel bad...” He finally let out. “That you didn’t come to us earlier.” 

“Oh... Gwil, don’t be silly. You have nothing to feel bad about, I’m an idiot. I should’ve known you were going to support me on this. It was a silly self-doubt.” Joe reassured his friend but Gwilym wasn’t convinced. 

“Yes, but isn’t it a little our fault.” Gwilym looked specifically at Rami when he said this. “I don’t think we give you enough credit. I immediately thought you were going to say something stupid to Professor May. I’ve been trying to impress this man and here you came and swoop him with one idea. You’re bloody brilliant! I hate that you doubted yourself.” 

“Gwil, you’ve both been impressing that man since day one, it’s stupid how proud of you two he is.” Ben said, clearly about Gwilym and Rami, and Joe nodded in agreement.  

“Still... I’m sorry if I ever made you doubt yourself, Joe. And I’d love to be a part of your newspaper if you’ll have me.”  

Joe gave Gwilym a big smile and then hugged the boy. Ben smiled as well and joined in, dragging Rami into the hug. Joe knew it wasn’t Gwilym’s fault that he doubted himself, it was actually all him and his insecurities but it was really nice to see how much they all cared about each other and were worried about hurting each other's feelings. He couldn’t have asked for a better group of friends. 

“I actually have something to show you guys.”  

Joe told them once they broke the hug. He walked back inside the castle with the other three following him close, sharing wondering looks between them as they finally got to the hallway on the seventh floor where The Room of Requirements usually appears.  

“Remember last year when I got my camera?” Everyone nodded. “Well... I came back afterwards by myself a few times.”  

“By yourself?” Ben raised an eyebrow at Joe because he wasn’t going to admit it to anyone but it made him a little jealous that Joe did something without him and not even tell him about it.  

“Yeah, don’t be mad.” Joe told him softly, then continued telling them about the room. “I walked pass by it one time. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for as the room showed up and I walked in. There was just a desk and magic parchment and a quill. I was in here for a while when I finally started writing some thoughts down. It felt nice but I thought that was it. Later on, I came back a few times to write as well, things that bothered me, things I was curious about. One of the last times I came in, I found this...” The door for The Room of Requirements appeared before them after Joe walked pass the wall three times and they went in. It looked like a small news imprint. There were a few desks with typewriters and paper, some books here and there.  

“Joe...” Gwilym said, surprised as they all stood by the door but not for long because Ben started to walk around and inspect the place.  

“I know... it’s really cool. You guys really think I can pull this off?” 

“There’s no doubt in my mind that you can and will.” Ben answered quickly as he looked around.  

“Not to be as dramatic as Ben... but yes. I think you can.” Gwilym agreed. 

“I mean.” Rami added. “A magic castle gave you your own news room without you asking for it, Joe. What do we know?”  

They friends laughed at Rami’s comment and they all started to walk around the room, grabbed a book here and there and shared a bunch of ideas but mostly listened to Joe and what he wanted out of it all. As they talked, Rami noticed Ben grabbing a book from one pile and shuffling through it and it caught his attention. He had seen the book at the library before, it was one of those books they had to have permission to access but now it was just here, on his friend’s hands. Rami worried a little as he saw Ben checking it out with such interest and he walked up to him subtly as Gwilym and Joe talked. He closed the book on Ben’s hands gently and Ben looked up at him but said nothing. 

“Just... be careful with that.” Rami said softly, almost in a whisper. “It can be captivating but it can also cost you more than you know.”  

Ben simply nodded and they joined their friend’s conversation again. Back to the newspaper and Joe.  

Although that book was going to linger on Ben’s mind for a while.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed some bonding between the male friends!  
> Meanwhile, I'm writing another story, you can find it [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18431816/chapters/43660862)
> 
>  
> 
> Let me know what you think!


	9. In The Lap of The Gods. (Revisited)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, this is so long.  
> DADA = Defence Against The Dark Arts for my non Potterhead readers.

_**[Seventh Year]** _

 

 

So, Joe liked Ben. The great idiot went and did  _that_. Fall for his best friend. He didn’t even know he liked boys. He didn’t know what he liked. He never liked anyone before, or rather he’d always liked Ben, apparently. And it was so painfully obvious. He noticed everything now. How he would get whenever Ben said something nice to him, or lean on him to laugh at something. He started to notice how they brush their knuckles together sometimes when no one was looking, just for a second. A simple touch. But now it made Joe shiver and want to cry into a pillow.  

He also started to notice how their friends looked at each other whenever Ben and him were together. They would stare at them for a few seconds and then shoot each other this _looks_ ... like they knew exactly what was going on. How could they? He only just realised himself! Was it that obvious? Has it always been? 

This was a new kind of torture for Joe. He even thought he preferred being pushed around by fucking Foster rather than feeling this frustrated and stupid. And it didn’t help that, after everything that went down, Ben was closer to him than ever. He would always be around Joe, all the time. When Joe complained about it, Ben insisted it wasn’t true, that they were hanging out as much as ever and that he wasn’t being over protective and maybe he was right but Joe was feeling everything too intensely now.

*** 

The five friends were waiting around in a corridor for their DADA class to start, just talking about school and whatnot when suddenly, a Slytherin girl from their class passed them over and slammed her shoulder against Ben’s, pushing into him and then walked away.  

“Oy, what is your problem then?!” Ben turned around and shouted at her but the girl didn’t look back, she just kept walking away. “She does that, like, every time I cross paths with her.” He said turning back again to his friends, a little exasperated, rubbing at his shoulder.  

Lucy snorted. “I think she likes you.”  

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lucy!” Ben rolled his eyes at her and he could just sense how they were all going to make fun of him for this.  

“No, really. I think she doesn’t want to like you but she does.”  

“Aw Benny’s first girlfriend!” Gwilym teased. “It was about time, mate. Why don’t you ask her out? Take her to Hogsmeade one Saturday?” 

“We could double date!” Rami said looking at Lucy, because it had been a while since they all knew they were dating, and Lucy nodded enthusiastically. 

“Oh fuck off!” Ben waved them off and noticed Joe was awfully quiet. “What, you don’t want to have a go?” he asked the redhead who was doing everything in his power not to run away from the situation.  

“I just feel for her...” Joe just shrugged. He thought the comment was simple enough to tease him and he was right because his friends busted out into laughter.  

Ben walked away into the class room flipping them all off.  

** 

“So today, as I told you last class, we'll be doing some practical magic.” Professor Taylor began addressing the standing class in front of him and they were all excited. “And I want to challenge you a little with this one. You'll find it’s rather difficult but I’m sure some of you will manage. Now, who can tell me what a Patronus is?” He was pacing sideways in front of the students, playing with his wand in between his fingers, _like it was a drumstick_.  

Gwilym raised his hand and as soon as Professor Taylor nodded at him, he started talking. “ _Expecto_ _Patronum_  is a defensive charm that casts a Patronus which is roughly translated to spirit guardian.”  

“Miss Boynton, take it away!” Professor Taylor pointed at Lucy with his wand to add more information to what Gwilym just said.  

“umm...” She was a little taken aback because she wasn’t usually asked questions in class. It wasn’t easy being friends and in the same class with two big nerds like Gwilym and Rami. She looked hesitant. She obviously knew what to say and the other four gave her an encouraging look. “well, Patronuses are partially-tangible positive energy forces and the charm itself is one of the most powerful defensive charms. It’s also rather complicated.” 

“Very good Miss Boynton!” Professor Taylor nodded at her and gave her a wink. The cheeky bastard. “Right! Now, as Miss Boynton said, this is a difficult charm and there’s no pressure on you to get it right on your first try.” He continued pacing around, playing with his wand on his fingers again. “This charm has a particularity. It comes, as Miss Boynton said, from a positive energy. To be able to perform it, you have to focus on a happy,  _your_   _happiest_  memory. For example, most dark witches and wizards are unable to produce a Patronus because they’re filthy and rotten inside.” He paused and stopped walking, looking at his students. “So, I guess we’ll discover here which of you are as rotten as you smell.” He joked, getting some giggles from some of his students. “I’m only taking the piss, well, about the incantation at least, you should shower more...” He got a few more laughs out of that. “In all seriousness, it’s alright if you aren’t able to produce a Patronus on your first try, really. Mr. Hardy, do you want to give it a go?” 

“I think I’ll pass...” Ben said, rubbing one of his arms with his opposite hand. He looked uncomfortable as all eyes were on him because he was usually the first to try anything on Professor Taylor’s class.  

“Well... you know I ask but it’s not really a question rather than a polite way of, you know, saying you have to.” Professor Taylor walked up to Ben.  

“I’m not doing it.” Ben was firm and Professor Taylor was surprised.  

“You’ll stay after class with me then, Mr. Hardy.” 

“Fine by me.” He answered, rather rudely too, to everyone’s surprise.  

“Alright then...” Professor Taylor walked away but his eyes lingered on Ben. “Miss Boynton, do you want to give it a go? Then you’re all going to try it.”  

** 

Lucy left the DADA class with a few of her girl-friends and Rami, Gwilym and Joe left together for the dining hall. They sat down at a table and Rami took a book out of his satchel to flip through. He didn’t really want to read but he needed his hands to be occupied since he felt rather uncomfortable. Gwilym just sat there in silence inspecting his hands in front of him. Joe went from one to the other until he finally talked. He sensed there was something he was missing.  

“Okay, what was that about?” Joe inquired his friends about Ben’s attitude in class a few moments ago. 

“What do you mean?” Rami asked not looking at Joe.  

“I know you’re not reading that, Rami, don’t play dumb.”  

“You should really talk to Ben about this, Joe.” Gwilym was calmed, as usual and spoke softly to Joe which made him even more irritated.  

“I don’t even know what I should be talking about. You guys know something I don’t?” 

Rami shot a look at Gwilym and Gwilym was looking back at him the same way.  Lucky for them, before they could say anything Ben was entering the dining hall and joining them. The three boys looked up at their friend in silence, just waiting for him to talk. He didn’t. 

“What did Professor Taylor say?” Rami finally asked him, closing his book in front of him and focusing all his attention on Ben.  

“Was he mad? Why didn’t you do the incantation?” Joe added hurriedly.  

“umm... no, he wasn’t mad.” Ben paused. “We talked and he asked me to join a group he’s forming...? Not many people know because he chooses us. It’s an extra-curricular thing.” They were all looking at him, impatience growing in their faces. “It’s kind of advanced DADA. He said he gathers a group of witches and wizards and he trains them... in case anything happens to the castle again.”  

“Anything happens to the castle again?” Joe repeated almost in a whisper, not quite understanding but Rami countered ask. 

“So, you are saying that Professor Taylor asked you, a student that refused to try a  _defensive_  incantation, to join his group to  _defend_  this school?” Rami was definitely annoyed. 

“What did you even say? Shouldn’t you talk to your parents? Is this even legal? Sounds awfully dangerous to me”  

Gwilym tried to talk some sense into Ben who was standing over them and, exasperated, run a hand through his hair and looked away. “Look, I did the bloody thing, the Patronus. I did it just now with Taylor, it was fine. And I said yes.” 

“You said yes?” Joe leaned into the table unable to believe what he was hearing.  

“Wow...” Gwilym managed to say amidst his shock and Rami simply shook his head. 

 “Does this sound as ridiculous to you as it does to me?” Joe spoke again and looked at his other friends. 

“Ben, you should think about this better. You know you don’t need to do this.” said Rami as calmly as he could and as he said that, they could see he meant something else that he wasn’t verbalizing. Trying to reassure Ben of something that, at least Joe, wasn’t catching. 

“This isn’t your job. It’s their job, to protect us, to protect you!” Joe stood up from the bench, in frustration as they were starting to gather some attention from other students in the dining hall. “You and your stupid hero complex...” he huffed.  

“You calling me stupid now?” Ben stepped forward towards Joe who stood still. 

“Yes, please focus on twisting my words, that’s what’s important.” Joe crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes at Ben but didn’t back down and Ben didn’t step away, but of course he wasn’t going to hit Joe.  

Nevertheless, Gwilym stood up and placed a hand on one of Ben’s shoulders. “That’s enough, mate.” he said gently. 

“Don’t do it, Ben.” Joe said. 

“I wasn’t asking for your permission, Joe.” 

“Fine then... I’m not talking to you anymore.” Joe said, voice firm even though the statement alone was breaking his heart into a million pieces. “One less person for you to  _defend_.” 

Joe walked past Ben and Gwilym and left the dining hall leaving them behind. Ben was still looking in front of him where Joe was just a second ago, unable to get air through the lump in his throat.  

 _This is right. What I’m doing is right. He’ll see that_ _._ Ben told himself. 

“Give him some time, he’ll come around. We all will.” Gwilym said to Ben, tightening his grip on his shoulder.  

 

*** 

Joe was, to put it mildly, devastated. It wasn’t enough that his recently discovered feelings towards his friend were suffocating him, now he wasn’t talking to him either. He couldn’t fathom putting Ben in any danger and neither could he just accept Ben putting himself in danger but he wasn’t stopping him either. He knew he was being too overdramatic as usual but he couldn’t see past this. He couldn’t get over it. He couldn’t even pretend, like Rami and Gwilym did and he couldn’t stand that either. So, Joe stopped joining them altogether. He talked to Rami or Gwilym by themselves but didn’t join them in anything they used to do the four or five of them together.  

One afternoon over the weekend, he was sitting alone in his room with the invisibility cloak on his lap, running his fingers over it. There was an idea crawling inside his head. He wanted to be there. In one of this classes or whatever they were. To see with his own eyes what Ben looked like without him, doing this thing that was clearly more important than their friendship.  

He found he room where these practices were taking place easily enough. Rami told him all about it one afternoon, even though Joe could easily notice there was something else Rami was still not saying but he didn’t press. He understood it wasn’t Rami’s place to tell but he was going to find out what it was anyway, somehow.  

Joe put on the cloak before slowly entering the room unnoticed. There was a group of students, not many, practicing various spells and incantations. Professor Taylor was walking among them all, giving notes, straightening wands, correcting pronunciation. His eyes finally found Ben and he felt a twist in his gut that barely let him breath. _He missed him_ . Ben looked focused and  _he missed that_ , he missed just looking at Ben doing anything. Joe also missed that Professor Taylor was walking right towards him.  

“Take five everyone, I’ll be right back.” He said to his students and opened the door next to Joe. “Step outside please.” He whispered near Joe and Joe nodded, even though he couldn’t see him. Once outside after closing the door shut, Joe took the cloak off. Professor Taylor crossed his arms in front of him with a very annoyed look in his eyes. “What are you doing here, Mazzello?” 

Joe hesitated, fumbling with the cloak in his hands and looking down. “I...” He sighed. “I don’t know. I guess... I just want to understand. But I don’t get it.” Joe finally looked up at Professor Taylor in front of him. “Why him?” he said expecting... well knowing, the man would understand. 

Professor Taylor took a deep breath and soften his tone. “What do you know about Hardy’s family?” 

Joe wasn’t following. “Not much, he’s pure blood. His mom was a Slytherin too in school but his dad was a Hufflepuff.” He smiled at that a little. 

“There’s a lot more to know than that. He struggles to find his place in it, you know? His mom’s side... they have a history. It’s not very nice. I’m trying to give him some direction but I ultimately want it to be his choice, what he does with his magic.” 

“He never talks about his family. He brushes away at the subject. I thought he just wasn’t close with them.” Joe pauses again as he gathers his thoughts, he’s not sure he should be talking to his Professor like this but he felt he didn't have any other choice. “I’m scared. Sometimes I feel like he could murder someone.... like he would.”  

“Look, Joseph, if you are worried about him deep down being evil or something like that, let me tell you: it doesn’t work that way. People aren’t born good or evil, we all have both inside and it’s up to us to decide what are we. At the end of the day is our actions that determine in which side we stand. You have to trust he’ll make the right choices.”  

Joe couldn’t mutter anything to say. He just nodded and Professor Taylor patted his shoulder on his way back inside the room.  

He debated for a while if he should stay there and wait for Ben to come out so they could talk or if he should leave, and think about what Professor Taylor told him. Maybe only then approach Ben. It was hard to leave because Ben was right there, a wall of concrete separated them, it was as simple as that. Joe wanted it to be as simple as that but it wasn’t in reality. He didn’t know how long he had been pacing back and forth but it must have been a while since the door of the room opened once more and this time people were coming out of it, Ben amongst them.  

And there it was again, that dam twist in his gut as Ben found his eyes among the handful of people coming and going around them. His throat closed a little when he noticed Ben wasn’t approaching him and Joe panicked, thinking this was it, he had ruined, he fucked up and Ben wanted nothing to do with him now.  

People finished dispersing, leaving them by themselves in the corridor, still with some distance between them, neither was shortening.  

“Been sneaking around?” Ben asked, referring to the cloak on Joe’s hand. “You’re not supposed to use that by yourself or without the other’s permission.”  

“Yeah well, you know me, I’m an outlaw.” Joe shrugged and he saw Ben do a little smirk that made Joe feel alive again. He finally walked towards the blond. “Ben, look...” 

“I get it Joe, you’re worried. But you don’t have to be. It’s fine, nothing will happen. There hasn’t been an incident for years. And it’s not like if something does happen, they’re sending us to the front lines, it’s just to help people out.” Ben finally gave in and explained calmly because, in all honesty, he missed Joe and he needed for them to be okay. 

Joe was nodding at his words, he still thought it was crazy, what they were doing, but it was true there wasn’t an immediate danger. But there was something Ben wasn’t telling him and he wanted to fully understand him. “I feel out of the loop...” He finally told him. 

“How so?” Ben raised an eyebrow; he definitely wasn’t expecting that. 

“What do Rami and Gwilym know that I don’t? Is it something about your family? That’s why you don’t talk about them?”  

Ben blinked a few times, blindsided by the question. “Did they tell you something?”  

“No... no one does.” Joe said under his breath.  

“My family... it’s complicated. I like that you don’t know about them because there’s no judgment and no expectation and... no pressure.” 

“Ben, I could never judge you for something you didn’t do.”  

“I know but...” Ben bit at his lips a little frustrated, his words failing him as usual. “Look, I promise I will tell you about it, just not now okay? This...” He points at the room next to them. “All that defensive spells and incantations, they take a toll and I’m drained. Can we be okay for now?”  

Joe was about to argue when Ben took his wrist with his hand and he was looking deep into his eyes and Joe was undone. And then, Ben pull him into a hug. He embraced Joe with his free arm over his upper body, still holding his wrist. Joe hugged Ben by the waist, burring his face into Ben’s sweater and his worries calmed down.  

Once they parted, Ben pointed with his head for Joe to walk with him. He tucked both his hands in the pockets of his pants and they walked side by side, with Joe hugging at the cloak in his arms.  

“So, should I ask that crazy girl out or not?” Ben asked Joe in order to ease the tension not knowing it would have quite the opposite outcome for Joe. 

“Do you like her?” Joe was definitely trying to avoid answering to that question. 

“I don’t really know her.” He shrugged. 

“Well isn’t that the point of asking someone out? Getting to know them.” 

“I suppose you’re right. I don’t know if I want to date someone out of our group though.” Ben really didn’t notice what he just said until he saw Joe’s face do something that looked like it was casted on him rather than him doing it naturally which made Ben laugh. “Oh, you know what I mean.” 

“It’s just me and Gwil left.” Joe said hopping it passed as a joke.   

“I mean... like Rami and Lucy. Nothing changed when they started dating and I don’t want things to change. It was scary enough when you weren’t hanging out with us. I rather we stay us five.” 

“Well, there’s your answer I guess?” Joe said relieved.  

“Yeah, I guess...”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter if you celebrate!  
> I know I said I was giving Joe a break for a while but I guess I'm a liar.  
> I will after this thou, I promise for real this time but I had to put this one exactly here for the plot.  
> Anyway, I'm very excited about writing what happens next after this one that will come in about two chapters.  
> Also the "slytherin girl" is me haha, I wanted to get that joke in here and I finally managed. I also had to cut a joke in here because this got so fucking long, I really hope I can put it in somewhere else.  
> I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this! 
> 
> ALSO, SOFT BEN


	10. Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's a short one, sorry!

**_[Fourth Year]_ **

 

 

Ever since the previous year – their third – when they were finally allowed to go to Hogsmeade, the four friends would make the trip to the small town every weekend, at least one out of the two days, to relax away from school for a while, buy themselves some treats and even get themselves some tricks at Zonko’s Joke Shop. Well, Ben and Joe did the later.  

This particular time, Gwilym and Rami were at the castle’s entrance waiting for their friends among other students that were making the trip as well, chatting about what they were going to do once there when Joe finally showed up. 

“Sorry.” He said clearly out of breath as he approached them in a hurry. “I missed one of the stairs and had to take the long way. Ben’s not here yet?” 

“I thought he was coming with you.” Rami looked behind Joe to see if the blond was about to come out of the castle.  

“Oh, Ben said to go ahead without him.” Gwilym added.  

“What? He’s not coming?” Joe chuckled in disbelief and also looked behind his back. He thought Gwilym might be joking.  

“He went ahead already with an earlier group. He said he wanted to check something out. He'll meet us by the Three Broomsticks entrance when we get there.” Gwilym gestured with his head and started walking so the other two followed him with puzzled looks.  

“Did he say what he wanted to check?” Rami asked and there was a hint of worry on his voice which made Joe and Gwilym eye him. “What, is not weird for you that he went ahead by himself? Just me?” 

“Now that you put it like that, perhaps is somewhat odd, yes. But I didn’t think so at the time so I didn’t ask when I saw him leave.” Gwilym answered. “Is there something going on, Rami?”  

“No... no of course not. I'm sure it’s nothing, sorry.” he waved it away and continued walking.

“He probably went to get some Quidditch gear at Spintwitches and didn’t want to bore us.” Joe said to try and calm Rami’s worries but he was surely worried himself now. He was going to ask Ben later about Rami’s worries to ease everyone’s mind but for now, all they could do is get to Hogsmeade.  

 

***

 

When they finally arrived at Hogsmeade and the Three Broomsticks, Ben was not there waiting for them. They walked inside to check if he was already in but he wasn't there either so they decided to take a walk around once and see if they could spot him, somewhere else. 

They checked the places they usually went to like Honeydukes and Scrivenshaft and they also made a stop by Spintwitches, like Joe suggested but he wasn’t there either so they decided to go back to the Three Broomsticks and wait for him there where they were sure to find him when he decided to show up.

As they made their way back, they passed by Tomes and Scrolls bookshop and Rami looked inside, like he always did because it’s one of his favourite places in Hogsmeade, making a mental note to go in later and he couldn’t help but notice the tall blond boy inside. Gwilym and Joe were talking with each other so he started to walk a bit slower to try and loose them which he did successfully. When they were finally out of sight among the crowd, he walked back and got inside the bookshop.  

He stood by the door and watched Ben walk to the counter with a book and a piece of paper and it took the blond a second to notice his friend inside. 

“Rami... what...?”  

“...am I doing here? I could ask you the same thing.” With arms crossed and a straight face, Rami walked up to stand next to him and check what he was buying.  

“I got a note... from Taylor.” Ben showed him and the man behind the counter.  

“Why are you sneaking around then?” Rami reached and grabbed the book Ben was purchasing. _"Secrets of the Darkest Art"_? Why did Taylor ask you to buy this? It’s at Hogwarts library. Why didn’t he just give you a note for the restricted area?” He flipped the book around like he was expecting it to give him the answer. “Why does he want you to read this book?”  

"Can we just...?” Ben took the book back from Rami’s hands to pay for it and put it away on a leathery backpack he had hung over one shoulder. “Thank you.” He said to the wizard behind the counter and paid for the book. He then, pushed Rami out of the shop. Rami stepped outside and crossed his arms over his chest once more, waiting for an explanation. “Why were you following me?” Ben asked instead.  

Rami scoffed. “I wasn’t. You're terrible at sneaking around. I, literally, walked by and saw you. With Gwilym and Joe, mind you and I managed to lose them before going in to find you so you’re welcome.” 

Ben looked around to check but he didn’t see their friends around.  

“What’s going on? And, please, say something remotely convincing if you don’t want me to tell the others because right now, I plan to.”  

“Rami, it’s nothing.” Ben said and sounded a little defeated. He really didn’t want to explain himself. He didn’t quite know how.  

“No. Try again.” 

“Gwilym and you are always at the library, I didn’t want you to see me take out these books and ask me a million questions about it so I bought them instead.”  

“Wait, these books? As in plural? As in you bought more than one!?” Rami opened his eyes, horrified, finally uncrossing his arms and Ben took a step away from his friend, frustrated, running a hand through his hair like he always did when he was. “Ben, I know about your family’s history. What’s going on?” 

Ben fell silent. He figured both Rami and Gwilym knew about his family, especially Gwilym and he was glad they never brought it up. He wasn’t glad it was happening now. 

“I just want to know, alright?” He snapped, waving a hand in the air exasperated, pacing in his place.  “I want to know why. What is it about the dark arts that my family chose it over my mom... I want to know if I have a place in all of that. If I want a place in all that.”  

“Have you talked to your parents about this?” Rami soften up a little, understanding where Ben was coming from but still worried.  

“No, and you’re not telling Gwil and Joe either.”  

“I don’t think you should do this by yourself Ben. This is really dangerous stuff, I’m really worried.” Rami said calmly, trying his best to make his friend understand that this came from a place of love.  

“I’m not.” Ben reassured him. “Professor Taylor is helping me out. He went to school with my parents and was a friend of my mom.” He paused. Rami didn’t look convinced so he added. “If you’re worried I’ll turn into a Death Eater, I won’t. I promise you. It’s not why I’m doing this for. I’ve seen enough of that to know better. I’m just curious.”

“Okay...” Rami nodded, a little relieved but with his reservations. “I’m not saying I’m okay with this but if you promise me you’re being careful then I guess it can’t hurt to be a little curious.” after saying this, he started walking. “Come on, then.” 

“The Three Broomsticks is the other way.” Ben stood still, watching Rami confused as to why he was walking in another direction to where they were supposed to be going,

“It would be weird if we get there empty handed, let’s go to Honeydukes and get some sweets so they won’t ask a lot of questions. Well, at least Joe won’t”  

 

*** 

 

“Where the hell have you two been!?”  

Joe stood up from where he was sitting in front of Gwilym at a table inside The Three Broomsticks with their drinks already, waiting for the other boys that they lost along the way. They looked a little worried too. 

“Jeez, mom, sorry.” Ben went to sit down next to Joe and bumped his shoulder with a side smile as he handed him a bunch of his favourite candies from the shop.

“I saw Ben getting inside Honeydukes and when I turned around, I couldn’t find you two so I went in and got him.” Rami took his usual place next to Gwilym in front of Ben and dropped some more candy on the table. Ben looked at him surprised and a little impressed at how Rami covered for him so easily. 

“Uh, chocolate frogs!” Joe exclaimed already forgetting all about them disappearing and the rest chuckled at how he suddenly looked eleven again.  

The other three shared a look while Joe was too focus on his candy and Rami gave Gwilym a reassuring nod and squeezed his arm as to say that everything was fine and Gwilym understood he didn’t need to worry.  

“So...” Joe said mindlessly munching on chocolate. “Are we going into the Shrieking Shack or not? I can’t believe we haven’t tried to sneak in yet.” He was referring to the infamous hunted house that they were warned about at the castle and by everyone in town, so of course he wanted to check it out.“No. Joseph. No.” Gwilym said firmly. ”I thought Ben was the one with the death wish?” 

“Oh come on, you know it’s both of us by now.” Joe was now licking chocolate out of his fingers and Ben was smiling at him, Rami shaking his head, opposite them.

“No. I’m serious. Rami? Back me up please?” The Gryffindor pleaded to his friend’s common sense.

“You mean you’re being  _Sirus_?” Joe burst out laughing at his own pun and Ben laughed along. Even Rami chuckled a little. “Alright, alright children, please.” The Ravenclaw tried to settle his friends down at the sight of Gwilym’s very annoyed look. “As much as I’d love to know what’s in that house, I think Gwilym is right.” Joe started booing and threw candy wrapper at him. “And especially, I’m not taking you into a dangerous place on a sugar rush.” 

“We’ll go some other time.” Ben elbowed Joe softly. “We have to go back soon anyway.” 

“Fine...!” Joe rolled his eyes. “This was a very disappointing Sunday, Y’all owe me.” He stood up grabbing all his candy, ready to leave.

“I just bought you all that!” Ben complained, picking up his back pack and throwing it over his shoulder.  

“You _can’t buy me love_.” Joe quoted and Ben looked at him weirdly. “It’s a song? Oh please tell me you’ve heard The Beatles or I’ll cry.” 

Rami laughed because he did get the reference but Gwilym and Ben were lost and Joe was very over dramatic about it demanding they had to listen to a bit of muggle rock and roll some time as they exited the pub and started to make their way back to Hogwarts. 

Rami and Ben shared one last look and a nod that non-verbally said that Rami was trusting him. And he better not break that trust.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're still around reading this and didn't forget about me, I'm very thankful!  
> A little more of Ben's family story as you all been wondering. There's more to know and I promise is coming.  
> Let me know what you guys think!


	11. Thank God it's Christmas.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys spend Christmas together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so fucking long, making up for the previous one.  
> Also, if Ben is your fave in this story, this chapter is for you.

_**[Seventh Year]** _

 

 

After the previous year’s misfortune and given that this was going to be their last Christmas together in Hogwarts, the friends decided that they were going to spend the holidays together. The first few days before Christmas, they were going to spend it at the Malek’s, the few days after Christmas at the Lee’s and finally they were going to spend New Year’s at the Hardy’s. Joe was going to miss his family again these holidays but there was an imminent probability that he was going to move to New York after this, his last year, and he had only a couple of months left with his friends.  

Joe tried not to think about it too much. He wasn’t certain and it was pointless to dwell on it but it was a possibility he couldn’t rule out. So, he was going to make the best of these free days with his best friends.  

 

 

Even though they could have gotten to Rami’s house through the Floo Network, Rami’s mom thought it would be a good idea for the boys to take that opportunity and make kind of a short road trip out of it, so she actually picked them up in her late husband’s muggle car that she still owned after he passed away when Rami was little.  

Of course, Joe was frantic about the idea because he really loved road trips and he even insisted on picking up the music. The other boy who was also very excited about this was Ben. As soon as he saw and got into the car, he was fascinated.  

“I’ve never been in a car before. Not even an enchanted one that can fly. I’ve always wanted to ride one.” Ben was beaming, looking out the window, watching other cars go by as well.  

The four boys were cramped in the back seat because Sami, Rami’s twin brother was in the front sit as co-pilot. Gwilym’s leg were almost up his chest. The car wasn’t particularly small and Joe and Rami were sitting just fine because of their small frame, but Gwilym was too long and the poor boy looked uncomfortable and silent. Ben on the other hand was also a bit cramped but he couldn’t care less, he was too busy being fascinated.  

“I used to go on road trips with my dad all the time when I was a kid and during the summer...” Joe was sitting next to him, looking out the window over Ben’s shoulder and as he said that, Ben turned to him with a bit of panic in his face because he never knew what to say whenever Joe brought up his dad. He felt it was always too soon since it was only last year he passed. But Joe just gave him the sweetest smile possible because he liked remembering his father and although it was bittersweet because he missed him every day, he was still happy and grateful about the man and everything he taught him along the way. He wouldn’t be the young man that he was now if it wasn’t for his dad.  

Ben simply smiled back.  

 

**** 

 

“Gwilym my dear, you have to remind me to thank your parents for the tent! It was a wonderful idea. I don’t know how I would have fitted you boys in our tiny house!” Nelly, Rami’s mom said as the boy set up the tent in the living room. 

“I sure will thank them Mrs. Malek and it’s no problem, really. They were happy to do it.” Gwilym replied politely. 

“Oh no, none of that boys. You all call me Nelly, please. Don’t make me feel too old, okay? I’ll leave you to it while I make some food for you.”  

“Yes, Mrs. Malek!” The three boys said in unison and Nelly left the living-room giggling. 

“Hey, are you guys okay here? I have to show Joe something real quick.” Rami asked Ben and Gwilym and Joe looked at him with a raised eyebrow because he had no idea what this was about.  

“Of course, we are almost done anyway.” Gwilym answered but Ben was skeptical and although he said nothing, he watched them leave and then resumed his task helping his friend, still wondering what was that about.  

When Rami and Joe returned, they were both carrying a black rectangle thing with a screen? Ben and Gwilym didn’t know what they were but the boys were laughing and apparently excited about their gadget. Gwilym paid no mind and took a step inside the tent but Ben kept watching the other two.  

“God, is it bad that I go to a school for magic and I still miss my phone?” Joe asked Rami a bit self-consciously. He was a teenager after all and he enjoyed the indulgence of social media and technology very much.  

“Yes, it’s actually very terrible of you.” Rami told him sincerely. “I rarely use mine, really. I don’t know if I would even have one if it wasn’t because you’re so annoying.”  

“You’re welcome.” Joe grinned to Rami and turned his eyes back to the phone and Ben watched them without knowing what was happening but something didn’t feel right to him. Nevertheless, he said nothing and got inside the tent as well after Gwilym to settle their things there. “I will never get used to this being  _bigger on the inside._ ” Joe said, going inside the tent after Rami where there was a whole other room with beds for the four of them, a couch and a table with chairs. It was almost like another little house. 

 

Days went by at the Maleks and every time Nelly wanted to go grocery shopping Ben would ask her if she was taking the car and if he could go with her, ending up dragging them all along. Nelly didn’t mind the company, quite the opposite. She missed having the house full on Holidays and it was the only real time she had to be a mom because otherwise she worked a lot. But she was so much better than when Rami was little and Mr. Malek died; more present.  

Rami and his family were truly half-blood in the sense that they used magical and muggle things alike. Nelly made sure her kids had a taste of “the muggle experience” to keep the memory of their late father alive so she encouraged them to do and use muggle things.  

Joe was more than happy about this because it made him miss his family a little less and oh boy, was he excited about the movie marathons he was hosting every night. He loved Ben and Gwilym’s reactions to muggle movies and they ended up discussing them after wards for hours on end.  

 

*** 

 

Gwilym’s house was much bigger than Rami’s and they didn’t need the tent to stay there. The Lee’s had a spare room in their house so they were divided up in two, Rami would share Gwilym’s bedroom and Ben and Joe were set up in the guest bedroom.  

 

“You don’t mind, do you?”  

Ben asked Joe the first night they were spending at the Lee’s as he was undressing before going to bed and Joe felt all the colours of his face drain and the air if his lungs leave him as well.  

“Are... you sure you want to sleep in your underwear? It’s freezing.” Joe’s voice came out a little higher pitched than normal, as he was laying on his side of the bed, all cozied up inside and wearing a fluffy sweater because it was the middle of winter in England after all. And yes, they were not only sharing a bedroom, they were also sharing one king size bed.  

“I hate sleeping with clothes on, mate. I heat up at night, I’m like a furnace. I thought, since it’s just us...” Ben shrugged, walking around in his underwear around the room, leaving his clothes on a chair.  

“Yeah, no... yeah. Umm... of course. Yeah.” Joe mumbled; he didn’t know quite what to say but he was sure he wasn’t going to sleep that night.  

Ben got into bed next to Joe without a care in the world, he turned to his side with his back towards the other boy, turned the light off from the lamp on his bed table and said, “Alright then, night.” he announced and a few minutes later he was, in fact, sleeping. 

Joe didn’t know when he finally managed to fall asleep but when he woke up the next morning, he had a headache and was feeling terrible so he guessed it wasn’t long ago. He noticed the reason he woke up was because someone was knocking on the bedroom’s door. He sat up a little rubbing at his eyes and noticed he was by himself in the room. “Yeah?” He answered sleepily.  

Lucy opened the door and peeked inside with her hands on her eyes. “Are you decent?” 

Joe was about to smile but was cut by a sudden yawn. “Yeah, come in!” He managed to say and Lucy walked inside the bedroom and sat at the end of the bed. “Hey, Luce.” Joe’s voice was deep and hoarse.  

“Hey sleeping beauty. Breakfast is ready. I thought you’d be up. It's unlike you to sleep in.” Lucy looked around the room and noticed he was, very obviously, sharing the bed and bedroom with Ben. “Oh...”  

“He sleeps in his underwear.” Joe simply stated, knowing Lucy was going to understand him perfectly. The girl had caught on Joe’s realization of his feelings for Ben some time during the past year and had been his confidant ever since. 

“Yeah, he burns up at night. It’s ridiculous. But he doesn’t do it around people... I’ll tell him to get dress.”  

“Lucy... no, just leave it. It’s fine.” Joe said a little defeated. He was his best friend after all and he shouldn’t be feeling that uncomfortable around half naked Ben. 

“Unless you tell me you actually like seeing him walking around you in his underwear, I’m going to tell him to get dress. Come on, the last thing you need is to be tortured like that.” Lucy laughed a little but feeling for Joe. 

“Yeah fine ‘cause I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep right for the next couple of days.” Joe got up from the bed and chose an outfit to wear for the day. “I’ll be right out.” 

Lucy nodded and left Joe to change and a few minutes later they were all at the table having breakfast and chatting about the day they had planned now that Lucy was joining them. She was casually munching on some fruit when she called Ben’s attention, Joe started to shift on his sit. 

“Hey Ben... I assume you’re not sleeping half naked around Joe, right?” She asked and saw Ben turn all shades of pink in the face. “You are, aren’t you? Don’t do that to the poor boy.” 

Gwilym was trying with all his might not to laugh but it was too much and he let out a big chuckle that was met with some fruit to his face from Ben. 

 

After that awkward moment at breakfast, they had mostly a great time during the day. Joe was taking millions of pictures with his phone and he would show Rami and also Lucy things in it and they would laugh together. Gwilym didn’t pay much attention to this but Ben wasn’t too happy about it. So much that, one time, Gwilym caught him staring at them with his brow frown while they were at a field in the afternoon. 

He took Ben aside from the group for a while and Ben knew he wasn’t being as subtle as he thought he was with his brooding. Gwilym said nothing and waited for Ben to tell him what was going on, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.  

“Oh, come on. You're not going to tell me this doesn’t bother you.” Ben finally said, annoyed.  

“Not at all, I think it’s nice that they have that in common that makes them happy. After everything they’ve been through.”  

Ben huffed and rolled his eyes. Great, now he felt like an asshole too. “Ugh... bloody hell. Okay, you’re right. But... we did this to spend time with each other. And they’re behind that thing all day.”  

“They’re having fun, that’s all.” Gwilym stretched his arm towards the blond in front of him and nudged his shoulder a little. “You should try that too.”  

“Yeah...” Ben took a deep breath but, as usual, his feelings failed him and he couldn’t really express them properly or deal with them so he kept to himself. “I’m going to head back.”  

Ben walked away from Gwilym and the group to go back to the house and the Gryffindor took the chance to walk up to his friends. He very well knew Ben’s jealousy was coming from somewhere else that not even the boy seemed to notice but he didn’t want him to feel bad so he decided to interfere.  

“Hey guys, could I have a moment?” He started and the three of them looked up at him approaching them.  

When Joe looked up, he immediately noticed Ben wasn’t with Gwilym and could still see him as he walked away. “Is Ben okay?” 

“He’s alright, yes.” Gwilym searched for the right words and the right way of talking about the subject without leaving Ben exposed. “You know, you’ve been a little too attached to your phones the last couple of days and even though I love that you are having fun, I feel like we’ve done this to spend time with each other and we aren’t doing it that much.” 

“Oh, Gwil. I’m so sorry!” Rami was quick in feeling self-conscious and guilty for making his friends feel that way. He even punched a Joe a little in the arm. “I’m done with it.” He put the phone up to Gwilym and turned it off. “Turn yours off Joe.” 

“But I want to take more pictures!” Joe complained. He really didn’t want to because he was having so much fun but he felt the daggers from his friend’s eyes burn his face. “Oh fine!” He turned it off and put it away too.  

“Ben was jealous wasn’t he, Gwil?” Lucy finally said, as usually, on point. 

“What? No, of course not, right?” Joe was quick to correct her, maybe too quick because when he looked at Gwilym, he saw on his face that Lucy was right. “Oh...” 

“Can we pretend we didn’t talk about this? I don’t want to make him feel uncomfortable.” Gwilym asked, as they all started to walk back together and they all nodded in agreement.  

When they were at dinner that night, with their phones away, they talked and laughed and joke like they always did. They didn’t need phones to have fun with each other really. Still, Ben was a little silent along the way, just chuckling at jokes but not engaging much.  

Before she left, Lucy told Joe to talk to Ben once they were alone and Joe of course knew better than to go against Lucy’s wishes because she was going to know, somehow, if he didn’t. After getting into his pjs and brushing his teeth, he sat on the bed, legs crossed and took his phone out again. Ben was sitting, dressed this time in a t-shirt and some sweats, at the edge of his side of the bed.  

“Hey Ben...” He called him and Ben just ‘hmm’ in response. “Can I show you something?” 

“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” He turned his head and Joe motioned him to come sit by his side on the bed which Ben did, a little unwillingly because he saw that damn device on his hands again.  

Joe pressed his shoulder to Ben’s and leaned into him, which Ben watched him do, a little surprised. It wasn’t like it was the first time Joe did that, but they were alone, in their pjs, in bed and Ben thought that it felt different. It felt a little more intimate. And he wasn’t hating it at all.  

“Look at this.” Joe was showing him that damn screen again and Ben forced himself to look away from the ginger and to the stupid device in his hand. “So, this is a game you can play on this. It’s really fun.” He said as he showed Ben a FIFA game for mobile. “I don’t know why but I could really see you playing soccer. Or football as they call it here in England.”  

Ben was a little hesitant at first but watched Joe play for a while and it did seem fun. After a few minutes he was completely engaged and ready to try it himself so Joe gave the phone to him and this time watched him figure out the game, tongue out and brow frown in concentration and Joe melted inside at how adorable he looked right now.  

“Gwil said he felt a little left out because of our phones. Rami and I promised we won’t use them much from now on.” Joe was trying to be subtle. “We’re very sorry, you know? I don’t know if you felt the same way but if you did...” 

“It wasn’t about the phone.” Ben said bluntly finally. “Suddenly Rami and you shared something I wasn’t a part of and... I didn’t like that.” He wasn’t looking at Joe but he wasn’t playing the game on the phone anymore either, he was just staring at his hands. “It sounds horrible when I say it out loud.”  

Joe took the phone from Ben’s hands and left it on the night stand, then rested his head on Ben’s shoulder for a while before speaking again. “Well... I’m sorry you felt bad. I didn’t mean for you to.”  

“Yeah, I know.” He nodded and after a pause he added, “We should sleep.” He said, instead of surrendering to this weird urge he suddenly felt of taking Joe hands in his.  

 

**** 

 

None of them knew this but Ben lived in an actual freaking castle and they were finding out just now, as they entered it. Joe was astonished and gobsmacked. He thought Gwilym’s house was big and nice but this? This wasn’t even a house!  

They all had individual rooms and Ben’s mom, Angela, went all out on them. She knew two of them were of muggle decent so, with the help of his muggle-born husband Keith, Ben’s dad, she got Rami and Joe huge TVs and even a hot tub in their private bathrooms. Each and every one of their rooms looked like a suite at a fancy hotel.  

Which was pointless really because they always ended up falling asleep together in one room, probably Joe’s, the four of them in the same big bed because it was big enough.  

Angela, wasn’t okay with this because she was big on proper manners and she didn’t see it was appropriate for them to be sharing beds when they all had their own rooms but Keith told her to relax. They heard him tell her they were there to have fun and she should just let them do that so she softened up soon enough and was just attentive and an amazing host.  

One evening, Ben and Joe were by themselves, as Rami and Gwilym were checking the huge library the Hardy’s owned, and they were walking around through one hallway of the house that had some portraits and paintings hanged up. Joe was looking carefully at them, noticing that some of the people in them were family members, and was reminded how he knew close to nothing about Ben’s family. Ben noticed that he never did tell him anything like he once promised Joe he would, so he decided this was as good time as any. 

“My dad’s last name is Jones.” He stated and Joe looked up at Ben, a little surprised at the sudden statement. “My mom’s the Hardy. My mom’s side of the family didn’t want her to marry my dad because he didn’t come from an important family and he’s a muggle-born.” Ben smiles shily a little. “You know, my mom was a Slytherin... and my dad was a Hufflepuff actually when they went to Hogwarts.”  

Joe blushed and he wanted to say ‘just like us’ but it wasn’t really like them. They weren’t together, they weren’t in love... well, Joe was. Ben wasn’t, as far as Joe knew. “How come they let her marry him in the end?” He chose to ask instead. 

Ben made a pause and bit the inside of his cheek. He hated this topic but it was time Joe knew the whole story. “Well, they promised that if they had children they will carry on the Hardy name because my mom is a single child. Especially if they had a son.”  

“I see... “ Joe simply said, giving Ben the space to add what he wanted, when he wanted.  

“Remember that time I didn’t want to do the Patronus incantation, about a year ago?” Ben asked after a short pause, Joe nodded but didn’t quite know where this was going. “I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do it. That I couldn’t. That I was... somehow, bad, because of my family.”  

“Oh, Ben.” Joe said softly as they were standing face to face in the big hallway and he reached his hand to caress Ben’s arm, still listening to the blond.  

“My great grandparents were Death Eaters. My mom won’t tell me if my grandparents as well. And I know some other relatives are too, distant aunts and uncles...” Joe was looking for Ben’s eyes but Ben couldn’t look back, not yet. He finally confessed, “I think my blood is poisoned. Taylor told me it doesn’t work like that but... I can’t help but feel like it’s true.” Ben made another pause and Joe held his breath. He could just feel Ben was going to tell him the biggest secret of his life, that thing that he has been carrying around for years, too afraid to say out loud and unload upon someone. “I feel like it’s just dormant there and one day it’s going to wake up and take over me and I’ll be...  _a Hardy_. I’ll be one of them.”  

Joe searched in his soul for the right words to tell Ben and couldn’t find them. Weirdly for him, words were falling him this time that he needed them the most. So, Joe did his favourite thing to do in the world. He pulled Ben in into a warm and tight embrace, burying his face into the other boy’s shoulder, taking a breath full of Ben.   

“You could never be whatever you are afraid you could become, Ben.” Joe reassured him, tightening his embrace even more one more time before pulling away to look into Ben’s eyes. “Besides, you’ve got me. You’ve got us.” He said obviously referring to Rami, Gwilym and Lucy as well. “You’re cared for. You’re loved.” Joe said the last part and thought how much he meant that in how many levels and how he wished he was brave enough to tell Ben.  

“Thank you, Joe.” Ben smiled, feeling a huge weighed being lifted over his shoulders and for the longest few seconds they just stared at each other feeling more than any words could make it justice.  

“Hey guys...” They heard and Ben turned around seeing Rami approaching them and they took a few steps away from each other. “Your mom says dinner’s about to be ready, we should head to the dining hall.” Rami took a good look at them both and added. “Everything alright?”  

"Yeah, we just had a heart to heart conversation.” Joe patted Ben on the shoulder and smiled at Rami. “Which left me starving so, let’s go!” he said, trying to lighten up the mood and the three of them walked together.  

 

*** 

 _“Honey, I don’t think we should worry them about this. They are going back to Hogwarts tomorrow and there’s no safer place for them than that.”_  The y met Gwilym right outside the door and  heard Keith say before entering the dining hall .   _“I’m sure The Ministry will stop this before something else happens.”_  

 _“I hope you’re right.”_ Angela made a pause and then added.  _“I can’t believe this is happening again, Keith. Muggle-_ _borns_ _and Half-bloods_ _being_ _attacked again. I thought that was all in the past.”_  

 _“Me too, sweet heart but, you know how this is. All you need is one spark to light that kind of hatred and it’s just **always willing to come back.** ”_ 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So?? Lots of development in this one.  
> Let me know what you think!


	12. We Are The Champions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me????? At loving Ben Hardy hour????

**_[Fourth Year]_ **

 

 

 

“You're being over dramatic again, Joe.” said Rami to an exasperated Joe at breakfast.

“But what if something happened to him and we don’t know because we can’t see that stupid idiot?” Joe’s hands were all over the place and he was red in the face with a mixture of anger and worry. 

“No, you may not. I know what you are gonna say. You warned me about this.”

“As a matter of fact, I was going to point out that if he was hurt or something happened to him, I’m sure the cloak would have fallen off and someone would have found him by now. He’s just taking his revenge on us for never letting him use the cloak on his own. Very childish of him, may I add.”  

Gwilym could sense sometimes when Ben was around them with the cloak, like right then, but never said anything and let him just have his fun. They had been quite unfair on not letting him use it, he knew it, so it was fine by him. He just hoped he didn’t get into any trouble or danger and really hoped he wasn’t missing classes but that was just more about himself than about Ben. 

Joe on the other hand felt really guilty because it was him who finally convinced the other two to let Ben have the invisibility cloak and now, he was doing exactly what everyone thought he would and made him look bad and it was frustrating and he also wanted to see him. To be quite honest, although he wasn’t going to tell his friends, he missed him. He had been gone for a whole 4 days!  

“We have the finals of the Quidditch National Cup soon, he better show before for that.” Joe finally added, indignant.  

“He won’t miss that, I’m sure. He’ll show up soon.” Gwilym assured Joe and looked somewhere behind him where he thought Ben might be. Rami noticed Gwilym’s eyes and followed them into nothingness but guessed Gwilym knew Ben was there. Joe was too busy being angry and stubbing at his food to even notice anything.  

 

An entire week passed before Ben casually showed up at breakfast one morning like nothing happened and Joe smacked his head.  

“Ow! What was that for?” Ben exclaimed, rubbing at the back of his head, playing dumb, of course. 

“You’re not being funny, you know?” Joe sat down next to him at the table and the other two in front of them. 

“Glad to have you back.” Rami said. 

“Joe thought you were dead.” Gwilym added with a playful smile and Joe mocked him. 

“Oh yeah, I know he did.” Ben smiled big while chewing his breakfast and the other two chuckled. Joe wasn’t amused. 

“It’s funny how I’m the one who got you the cloak and the one being punished.”  

“It _is_  funny, actually.” Gwilym stressed, just to piss him off.  

“I swear, Lee, you’re getting on my last nerve this week.” Joe bit back at his friend.  

“Joe, Ben is back, stop being so whiny now.” Rami intervened. “Can we have breakfast in peace? I need to read something for our first class, I fell asleep last night.”  

Breakfast did continue in peace in fact, with Rami very into his reading and not paying attention to his friends but Gwilym was. As he was eating his breakfast, he was watching the other two. At first Joe was staring annoyed at Ben but Ben was smiling and rolling his eyes until Joe finally smiled after a little shove of Ben’s shoulder because, of course he couldn’t stay mad at Ben.  

Gwilym honestly wished they could see each other right now because it was ridiculous how they didn’t notice how stupidly in love they were. He thought it was honestly very beautiful how their friendship evolved into that unconditional love they now had for each other that they showed through those endless banters like an old married couple which ended whenever Ben made puppy eyes at Joe and Joe would just soften up immediately. Gwilym thought it started about a year before then, when they were thirteen and he wondered when would they finally notice they were totally smitten for one another. It was going to take them a long while.  

 

*** 

After the whole invisibility cloak crisis was put behind them, they started to focus on the finals of the National Quidditch Cup that was upcoming in the next few days and planning every single detail. It was also Joe and Rami’s first big Quidditch tournament outside of school ones and Ben was particularly excited about taking them all and showing them something he was so passionate about. 

The school handed out special permission for the weekend the matches were being played and before then, Ben made sure to get his friends some jerseys and other accessories from his favourite team that was playing in the final game, so they would all have something to wear in support and even got face paint for all of them. Yes, he was all over this.  

When the day finally came, and Rami arrived to the Portkey – the travelling system they were using. - he found Ben already there waiting for them in full gear with face paint and everything. He even brought his own bat in case he run into his favourite beater. It surprised Rami that he wasn’t the first one to arrive but it made him smile to see how excited Ben was. He was wearing one of the jerseys Ben got him under his jacket and his Ravenclaw scarf around his neck. Short after him, Gwilym arrived as well, also in full gear, pretty much like Ben and Rami looked at him astonished because was always so serious except for some acid sarcasm here and there.  

“What? I’m welsh, what did you expect?” was his reaction to Rami’s look. Ben on the other hand was feeling proud.  

“Anyone heard from Joe?” Rami asked. 

“No but he better not be late because I’m leaving without him.” Ben was stern but as soon as he finished saying this Gwilym pointed behind Rami, trying not to laugh at the sight. 

“Here he comes.”  

Rami watched as Ben’s face dropped all its colours and his excited look vanished almost like he had seen a Dementor. He looked stupefied and soon he found out why. 

“Why are you all dressed like that?” Joe said as he was sporting about the same amount of gear as Ben and Gwilym but... of the opposite team. “Oh, come on, don’t tell me you’re routing for the lazy team that got to the finals by luck! I thought you liked good Quidditch.” 

It was the longest few seconds of their lives as their eyes focus on Ben, who was shocked and unwilling to look away from Joe. “I hope you’re joking.” He took a step forward towards Joe, very serious and Rami looked at Gwilym in panic.  

“Actually,” Joe took out his wand and with a swirl, his clothes changed to match the one his friends were wearing. Gwilym cracked up at the sight and Rami just did a face-palm. “yes, I am joking.” 

“Oh Mazzello, I’m...” Ben took another step closer to Joe but Joe cut him mid-sentence and meeting him in the middle, right in front of him inches away.   

“That...” He said and lifted his wand, poking Ben’s nose with it. “is for disappearing with the invisibility cloak for a week.”  

Ben should have known this was coming but it took him very much by surprise all the same. They kept their gaze on each other and there was a slight smirk on both their lips. Gwilym threw one arm around Ben’s shoulder to start walking away and specially to ease the tension and finish the staring contest he was sharing with Joe.  

“Come on, we still have to get to the tents before the match starts.” Rami and Joe followed them to the Portkey and after a rocky few seconds, they were transported to the site where the matches were taking place.  

It was a vast field, full of tents and people that surrounded an enormous stadium full of lights that practically lit up the whole field. The friends walked among the crowded place full of cheering and enthusiastic fans and they could hear chanting and singing and laughter coming from everywhere.  

As if nothing had happened only 3 minutes ago, Joe picked up his pace to match Ben’s and walk beside him excitedly. He was ready to bombard the blond with questions because he didn’t understand half of what was going on but oh boy, was he thrilled to be there. To be there with Ben.  

“Do we have our own tent?” He asked the blonde. “Is it a big one? For the four of us or each one of us get one?” The fact that they were staying in tents took him back to camping with his family and he was more than ready for it.  

Ben didn’t answer immediately, rather looked back at Gwilym who gave him a smirk. “Oh, you’ll see, we’re not far off.” Ben replied well knowing that this was one of those things that were going to blow Joe’s mind.   

“What? What is it, what?” Joe looked at Gwilym and then back at Ben insistent, jumping up and down and tugging at Ben’s sleeve now.  

They walked a little more and finally stopped in front of one of the tents. All Joe knew was that the tent was owned by Gwilym’s family and he couldn’t quite understand what was the big deal about this whole tent thing. It was just a tent, lots of people have a tent. He could’ve asked his mom to send them his if they needed one?  

Before going in, Ben and Gwilym shared yet another look and Joe was growing impatient and rolled his eyes at them. The two went in first and Joe and Rami followed. Once inside, Joe had to grab a hold of Rami’s arm out of sheer shock. That wasn’t  _just a tent_.  

“Rami I think I’m going to pass out.” He said and wasn’t exaggerating; he was genuinely shocked. Rami held him trying not to laugh. 

“What do you think?” Ben asked him as he walked around the sort of house inside the tent.  

“What do I think? Holy shit, that’s what I think... it’s...”  

 _“It’s bigger on the inside.”_ Gwilym finished Joe sentence and the Hufflepuff looked at him astonished.  

“Did you just make a  _Doctor Who_  reference!? You don’t know what a  _pen_ is but you know  _Doctor Who._ ” He screamed, because, okay, this was too much. 

“Tom Baker is my Doctor.” The Gryffindor shrugged as if that was enough of an answer.  

“What the fuck is happening?” Joe was so shocked he didn’t notice he was still clinging to Rami and as soon as he did, he let go of his friend. 

 After Joe’s initial shock, they each chose a spot and settle down to get ready for the first game for third and fourth place before the big final game the following day. They weren’t rooting for either of the teams but they enjoyed a good game of Quidditch and Ben followed the career of a few players from each team and Joe did as well but not as much as Ben.  

The game was intense and fun to watch in that huge stadium, a million times bigger than what they had at school. People were screaming and chanting and laughing, some complained, some cheered. They enjoyed themselves and the game left them all giddy for the big final the next day.  

When they went back to their tent, they celebrated with lots of food and stayed up late out of excitement and Ben basically talked all night about his favourite players, their careers and what he expected out of the final. He was very confident his team was going to win and explained lengthily why. And even though the other three were paying attention to Ben, Joe was mesmerized. So much that he didn’t notice the glances Rami and Gwilym gave each other while hearing them chat and share looks and smiles and unnecessary touches and nudges and graces.  

 

The next day Ben woke them all up, already in full gear once more and he had whipped some breakfast for all of them to everyone’s surprise.  

After breakfast he painted everyone’s face and help them get ready for the big game. It was really nice for the other three to see Ben so passionate about something. He wasn’t one for showing his emotions much, he was just a joker and never took anything too seriously except for Quidditch and it was amazing to see him put his heart and soul into something he cared so deeply about. There was no doubt in their minds Ben was far from being just the troublemaker he liked people to see him as. He was just as caring as the other three.  

All that enthusiasm finally payed off as the game was terribly exciting and their team was the new National Quidditch Champion. That weekend was going to be remembered as one of the best weekends of their friendship and their lives. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter in the past before the story ends!  
> I'm going to split the end into two parts so I hope you guys ejoyed this funny and light one.  
> I love to hear your opinions so, let me know what you think!!


	13. My Fairy King.

**_[Seventh Year]_ **

 

 

_So, Ben  liked Joe._

It took the feeling a few days to finally sink in but after spending Christmas together outside of school and spending every waking hour with him for two weeks, he realized his feeling for the ginger boy were more than ones of only friendship. He found himself wanting to be closer to Joe, touch him ever so slightly, trying to hide how much he wanted to get lost in his eyes, as cheesy as it sounded.  

He wasn’t too happy about it, after all Joe was his best friend. They’ve known each other since they were kids and they were a part of group he very much didn’t want to screw up. It was a sensitive matter for sure, one Ben was caught in thinking more than once, even in front of his friends. What would they think if they found out? Would they be weirded out about him liking Joe? Did that make him gay? Would his friends be okay with him being gay, if that was the case? It was a lot for his 17-year old mind. Ben wasn’t the best with words and feelings and this was too much for him to figure out. That's why, he managed to trick Lucy into thinking he needed help with an upcoming test he actually didn’t care much about and the girl agreed to help him.  

They were alone in a corner of the big library and Lucy was going through her notes. She was telling Ben things about what he needed to focus on when studying, making notes for him, adding what pages of what books to read for more information. Ben wasn’t paying too much attention to what she was saying and, out of the blue, as soon as he felt ready, he spoke up.  

“I think I like Joe.” Ben was surprised to hear himself say that with a shaky voice and as soon as the words got out of his mouth, he felt his heart pounding hard on his chest and became short breathed.  

Lucy froze. Her hand stopped taking notes and her eyes were fixed on the piece of parchment in front of her. She, too, could hear her own beating heart inside her chest and her hands started to sweat.  _This was **it**_. Still, somehow in disbelief, she put down her quill and slowly looked up finding a look in Ben she’d never seen before. “I’m sorry... can you say that again?” 

Ben hesitated. Was this a bad idea? Out of his three friends, he thought Lucy was the safest to tell his secret. They’ve known each other all their lives, literally. Lucy came first and above all his friends because she was more than that to him. She was his sister. If she was weirded out by this, then the subject was going to die there in that library just between the two of them and it was never going to be brought up again and Ben was going to get over the whole thing.  

“I think I like Joe.” He repeated after a few seconds and a long deep breath, now looking into Lucy’s eyes, focusing on her reaction to the confession.  

“Why do you think you like Joe?” Lucy asked, she needed to be sure Ben was serious and Ben wasn’t expecting the question.  

“I don’t know... I just think I do. No. I do know. I like him.” Ben wholeheartedly admitted in the end. If he was going to figure this out, he had to be honest with Lucy. And even more, he had to be honest with himself. 

“I’m going to need a bit more than that, Ben.”  

“I... what else do you want me to say?”  

“Tell me how you feel.” Lucy asked of him and Ben rolled his eyes and huffed. “Come on, you told me this for a reason, obviously. Just use your words. Tell me... let’s say, when did you notice?” Lucy had calmed down after the initial rush and now her voice was sweet and understanding.  

Ben took another deep breath and fumbled with his fingers a little until he finally said, “It was over Christmas break. Every day I noticed something different about him that I really liked. Like how he could talk for hours about something he loves, and how I never wanted him to stop. I found myself aching to hold his hand. By the end of it, I... I really wanted to kiss him.” 

“Ben. My love.” Lucy reached out for Ben’s hands and held them in hers and squeezed them tightly. “This is really beautiful. You should tell him how you feel.”  

“You really think so? What if he doesn’t feel the same way and everything gets weird? Not only with him but with everyone. I don’t want our group to change, we only have a few months left together until we split for who knows how long...” As he said this out loud, he came to the realization that Joe’s family lived in The United States and he might be going back there after school was over. “Oh shit, what if Joe leaves for good?”  

A sudden rush of panic invaded Ben’s body and he started shifting in his chair. Lucy wasn’t feeling much different but she was going to deal with her own dread of losing one of her best friends to the concrete jungle some other time. Ben needed her now so she kept her feelings in check for him.  

“Okay, yeah, that sucks. I didn’t think of that.” She said, honestly first. “But, about the group, it worked out fine with Rami and me. It’s going to work out fine with you two.” 

“It’s different, Luce.” 

“Why? Because you’re two boys? Don’t be silly Ben.”  

“No...” Ben said but it was, partly, what he thought at first, so he corrected himself. “Well, yeah that was some of it but now that you say it, you’re right, it’s silly. But you two were obviously into each other, you knew what the other was feeling. Everyone knew.” 

And Lucy laughed at how oblivious Ben was. Very loudly too. Maybe too loud because they heard someone shushing them somewhere and she had to force herself to calm down because they were in the library after all. 

“What’s so funny!?”  

“Ah... nothing. You'll see...” She said as she whipped out a tear from her eye and calmed down. “Anyway... think it about it like this: What if he does feel the same way and you lose all this time wondering instead of spending every second with him until he has to leave?” Lucy couldn’t tell him to go kiss Joe now and get it over with because Joe was crazy about him too. It wasn’t her place to say and she didn’t want to rob them of the first time confessing their feelings for each other which was going to be the sweetest thing ever, she was sure. They had to hear it from each other.  

Ben processed Lucy’s words. Of course, she had a point, but he was too afraid and oblivious to Joe’s feelings for him to just agree to the leap of faith.  

“Look, think about it. Consider what you have to win against what you have to lose.” Lucy continued, trying to ease Ben’s mind. “The worst thing that can happen is Joe, being a total sweetheart, telling you that he’s flattered but he doesn’t feel the same way but you’re no less of a friend for it. Which I think it’s not too terrible and you’ll see him for a few more months at school and then maybe just on occasion when he comes to visit or we go visit him and you’ll have time to get over him. And I’ll be here the whole time for you.” She smiled well knowing this wasn’t even the case but she needed Ben to be calm and convinced to tell Joe his feelings.  

“You are right.” Ben nodded. “I think I’m going to tell him.” 

 

 

*** 

 

Ben did not tell him.  

Lucy kept waiting and waiting but she didn’t push either of them. She did tell Gwilym and Rami and they almost started a pool to see which one of them was going to break and confess first. It was a hilarious thing to watch, though, now more than ever because now that they were both aware, they blushed at anything the other did. There were times the other three would roll their eyes collectively at them. Not that they would notice anyway.  

They were all at breakfast one morning, except Ben, that came in a bit later and found them already sitting down and eating and chatting like every morning. Lucy, Rami and Gwilym sitting on one side of the table while Joe kept a sit empty for him by his side in front of the other two as usual. 

“Hey!” Lucy was the first one to notice him coming in and they all looked up. “You overslept?” She asked with a sweet smile. 

“Umm... yeah.” Ben lied as he sat down next to Joe. He had been awake for a while. He actually barely slept all night because he spent it all trying to figure out when and how to tell Joe about his feelings.  

Lucy could totally tell he was lying but she said nothing, just observed. She squeezed Rami’s leg under the table to catch his attention as her eyes were fixed on Ben and Joe in front of them. Rami looked at her and then at his friends and understood instantly. He subtly elbowed Gwilym and pointed in front of them with his head. And now the three of them had their eyes fixed on the boys.  

They watched Ben fixing his breakfast as Joe was busy eating his own. He opened his mouth a few times and huffed soundlessly after. It took him a few attempts and a few minutes where still, none of them noticed their friends watching them intently.  

“I’m going to Hogsmeade this weekend.” He said as casually as he could to Joe, while he poured himself some pumpkin juice. “Do you want to come with me?”  

“Sure!” Joe replayed him cheerfully and looked at the other three and then realized their gaze. He narrowed his eyes and chuckled silently. “umm... you guys too?”  

Ben turned his head to give Lucy a panic look but before he could she was already talking. “We can’t, sorry.” 

“We have to study.” Rami added to sound convincing.  

“You always have to study.” Joe said. 

Rami looked at Gwilym for a save but Lucy added bravely. “Well yeah, do you want to stay and study with us?” 

Joe paused for a second, then looked back at Ben. “What time Saturday?”  

Lucy, Gwilym and Rami shared a high five under the table.  

 

 

**** 

 

The professors and Deputy Headmistress Austin are all together having a meeting about the upcoming N.E.W.T exams for the Seventh-Year students at Professor’s May office after class. It’s an ordinary meeting they have every year where they discuss the most convenient date according to how advance on their courses the students are, typical school talk.  

“Fred, are you alright?” Professor Deacon interrupts what  Deputy Headmistress Austin  is saying as he watched Professor Mercury’s sudden blank stare and white out eyes. Being the Divination Professor, Mercury, on occasion, had  visions of future occurrences and he hardly ever chose the moment they came to him. 

“Give him a second, Deaky.” Professor May extended an arm in front of him as if he was urging them to remain calm and be patient. Even though they’ve known each other for years, they rest of them except for May never got used to Mercury’s sudden black outs. They were rare and only when something really important was about to happen so they worried but waited.  

A loud gasp made Professor Mercury come back to himself and he was shivering and panting grabbing at the shoulder of Professor Deacon that was seating next to him. He took a hand to his chest and his eyes wondered among his friends until they landed upon Professor Taylor.  

“Rog...” He said breathlessly. “It’s happening.” Professor Taylor blinked as all eyes were on him. Mercury spoke up, loudly now. “Rog! Now, it’s happening now!”  

There was a loud thunder noise and suddenly the outside got dark in a matter of seconds like it was the middle of a stormy night. They all looked around, as they stood up, wands in hand. The doors of the office flung opened and Headmaster Beach rushed inside the office.  

“John, Brian. Get the students to safety.” He said without much explaining and Professors May and Deacon rushed out of the room. Taylor following after them. “Roger where are you going? We need you.”  

“I have to get my students.” He said, talking about his DADA advanced class, to get them to help their fellow classmates but, specially,  _he needed to get to Hardy._ “Miami, I think I know who’s behind this.”  

“Go get them.”  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally JUST finished writing this and it got me SO excited so please let me know what you think.  
> Also don't hate me. Or do, I don't know.


	14. Seven Seas of Rhye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, I was really worked up about it being good and so scared to write it.  
> I hope it's worth it.

  **_[Seventh Year]_ ** 

 

 

Once the sky turned dark and after the deafening sounds of lightening filled the air, the Dark Mark appeared big, green and clear in the clouds above Hogwarts, like all those years ago.  

As they were running around the castle, Professors May and Deacon encountered nurse Hutton who was coming to their aid, as he as well, noticed what was happening from the infirmary. Professor May decided they should split and gather as many students as they could in the same place. The Great Hall was too dangerous and exposed, probably the first place to be attacked so Hutton offered the infirmary itself.  

Somewhere else, Professors Austin, Mercury and Beach, with their wands drawn were ready to fight to defend the school and were looking for the intruders as they heard they were getting closer, running around in the upper levels of the castle where the sounds of shattering glass and explosions were coming from.  

“Did you get in contact with the Ministery of Magic?” Professor Austin asked Beach and he nodded. “Then we’ll have to hold the fort until they get here.” 

“We’ll manage, darling. Let’s not wait around, let’s go find them.” Professor Mercury said and the three teachers shared a look in agreement. They sprinted out towards the stairs where they found the first couple of Death Eaters coming up to them. After a few swirls of wands from both ends, the Professors managed to neutralize them, riding them of their wands and leaving them paralyzed to deal with later.  

Two down, who knew how many more to go.  

At the infirmary, Professor May and Deacon along with Hutton managed to get most students to safety, at least those who weren’t willing to fight because there were many brave ones who wanted to stand by their teachers' side and help protect the school.  

Once they gathered all the children inside, the three adults and some students stood outside the big, heavy wooden door and with their wands up, they started chanting an incantation all together. 

 _“_ _Protego_ _Totalum_ _.”_   

And with that, they sealed the infirmary with a protective shield that was virtually impenetrable by outside magic, at least for a while. After securing the place, they all run back to help and join the fight.  

 

 

*** 

 

 

 

Pieces of concrete and parts of the roof were coming down all over the castle along with glass from shattering windows but the scariest noises came from the heart wrenching evil laughs that could be heard among all the other deafening noises.  

Lucy, Rami and Gwilym managed to get to the dining hall safe together, only some scratches here and there and a lot of dust. Gwilym actually got a Death Eater out of their backs as they were running towards there.  

The three of them hid under one of the large tables, breathless and shaking. They were all bracing each other and didn’t manage to get a word out for a while.  

“Gwil, we have to go get them.” Lucy said to Gwilym with pleading eyes, she already knew Gwilym was going to say no.  

“I’m thinking Lucy.” Gwilym took a hand to his chin and looked away from them. He absolutely didn’t want to get Lucy and Rami from under that table. The dining hall was wrecked so it meant that the Death Eaters attacked there and moved to someplace else, hence probably weren’t coming back so they were safe.  

“Please, Gwil. Please. I think Joe’s all alone.”  Lucy was in the verge of tears. She had a really bad feeling pressing hard on her heart and if Gwilym wasn’t going to go with her she was going to get out of there by herself.  

“Look!” Rami said in a whisper and pointed at a pair of feet coming inside the dining hall hesitantly. “It’s a student.” He noticed by the uniform and sneaked out of the table to offer help. He didn’t expect to find Ben standing there, looking disheveled and tired. There were stains of blood and dirt all over him but he seemed unharmed. Rami tugged at Lucy’s sweater and both her and Gwilym came from under the table. 

Lucy run to Ben and hugged him with tears in her eyes.  

“Where’s Joe?” Ben asked as he hugged her tight and run a dirty hand through her hair.  

“We have to go get him, Ben.” Lucy replayed quickly, breaking away from the hug, her eyes full of worry that tugged at Ben’s heart.  

“You three stay here safe and I’ll go get him and come back.”  

“No! We can help!” Lucy complained. Why was no one listening to her? 

“Lucy, look at me.” Ben grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You have to stay here. You have to protect Rami.” He made a pause and looked behind her at Gwilym, then back at her again. “They’re after muggle-borns and half-bloods.”  

Lucy’s blood froze inside her body and she stopped crying all of the sudden. Her face was full of determination and she grabbed tighter at her wand. It was like out of nowhere, an altogether different feeling took over her and she wasn’t scared anymore. She was vigil, alert and ready to fight and protect her boy. Her love.  

Ben was the same.  

He gave the three of them one final look and after a great deep breath he got out of the dining hall and he could hear Lucy incanting the place after him for protection, just like the professors did with the infirmary. Still, they hid under the tables.  

 

*** 

 

Joe was in the Room of Requirements when hell broke loose.  

The place was full of other things beside his imprint for the school newspaper, that was just a little corner of it. Further away, the room was full of magic clutter and an old Vanishing Cabinet that he watched as it opened and a row of Death Eaters marched out of it.  

He wasn’t stupid. He knew he couldn’t fight them so he did the best next thing. He hid himself in between his book shelfs in hopes he wouldn’t get noticed before they were all out of the room but he wasn’t expecting to see Professor Prenter coming out among the other wizards.  

Joe’s breath got caught in his throat as his heart starting speeding up faster and faster and panic rose through his small body and his eyes started to get a little blurry. He had never felt this kind of terror in his life. He grabbed onto his wand tightly over his chest and closed his eyes shut. He felt his warm tears finally letting go and wet his face and he was trying hard to even his breath but to no use.  

The Death Eaters were trashing the room as they got out, kicking and blasting things with a truly raw maniacal laugh that was chilling and terrifying and Joe was feeling it in every bone of his body.  

After a few moments he opened his eyes as the noises were quieting down. He stepped away from between the bookshelves slowly and as silently as he could and wondered what was his best option. He wanted to find his friends but wasn’t he safer there? Yes, but he needed to know his friends were safe too.  

He looked around and the room was empty now so he walked towards the door. He closed his eyes and took a deep encouraging breath before opening the door slightly and peeking outside. The Death Eaters were almost out of sight, still destroying things along the way. Still laughing that sinister howl. Joe finally stepped out of the room and slowly and silently started walking through the corridor but not for long. He felt a hand grab tightly at his shoulder and a warm breath on his neck. He didn’t dare to turn around to see.  

“Isn’t this my lucky day?”  

The Irish accent rang from Joe’s ears to his feet resonating inside of him like echo. Joe tried to run but Prenter’s grip was tight on him. The man turned him around to face him. There was victory in his eyes and a smirk peeking out of his lips. He drew his wand out but Prenter smack it out of it, making it fly onto the floor so he kept trying to get his hands away from him with no luck.  

Prenter threw him violently onto the floor in one move and Joe, once again tried to scatter away but the man was kneeling down next to him and pinning him onto the floor. “I’m going to have fun torturing you.” He hissed as he pointed his wand to Joe’s face and he closed his eyes and looked away. He said nothing. Joe wasn’t going to give Prenter the satisfaction of hear him pleading.  

He opened his eyes, looking away as he felt a burning sensation on his arm. He pressed his lips tightly, feeling his tears once again burning just as much as whatever Prenter was doing to his arm.  

“I had plans for this school you know?” The man said as he burnt the word ‘ _mudblood_ _’_  into Joe’s arm with his wand while Joe silently cried, his chest rising and falling fast. “I was going to work my way up to headmaster, get rid of that hippie of Beach. But you had to open your filthy mudblood mouth. And look where that got you.” 

 _“_ _Expelliarmus_ _!”_  

Prenter was too focused on Joe that he didn’t notice Ben coming towards them and his wand flew from his hand because of the disarming spell. Joe could sneak away from the man’s grip and stand up but not for long. Prenter picked his wand back up and grabbed Joe by the arm once again before he could run away and grabbed him from behind, with his wand pressed up against Joe’s throat.” 

“Expelliarmus!” Ben tried once again but Prenter deflected the charm so once that didn’t work, he run towards him. He was too afraid to use magic because he didn’t want to hurt Joe so he used his agility to his advantage and  run towards the man but now Prenter’s wand was pointing at him.  

“I don’t want to spill any pure blood, Hardy. But I will if I have to.”  

“Cover yourself!” Ben said to Joe and started casting some blasting spells for Prenter to deflect and get distracted so Joe could run away and he did, he run right towards Ben and stood behind him. Joe stared at his friend. He looked focused and determined, he didn’t look angry. His magic wasn’t coming from his rage but from his need to protect him.  _His magic was coming from a place of love, not hate._   

“I see you’ve learned a few things since I left. Why don’t you join us Hardy? You know it’s your destiny.” Prenter said as he deflected one last blast. There was still a smirk on his face because he knew Ben couldn’t over-power him, no matter how good he’d become.  

“You’re mostly wrong but you’re right about something. I did learn a few things." Ben said as he took a few steps back covering Joe with his free arm, the other one still pointing at Prenter. “I had the best teacher.” 

_“_ _Everte_ _Statum!"_

A new voice joined them and this time it was Professor Taylor who made Prenter fly into the floor away from Ben and Joe.  

“Get out of here.” He yelled at them and Ben took Joe’s hand in his and started to run away with him. “You never learn, do you Paul?”  

“Bombarda!” Prenter pointed at a wall next to Professor Taylor and it exploded, making him take cover and run giving Prenter time to get on his feet.  

They fired more spells from their wands towards each other for a short while but Prenter was mostly trying to deflect Taylor’s attacks, he couldn’t keep up with him, not all those years ago, not now. He was a kid back then, not anymore. He did now what he didn’t dare back then.  

“Cruc...” He started saying one of the Unforgivable Spells, the Cruciatus spell, but Taylor didn’t let him finish. 

“Sectumsempra” Taylor countered-spelled and had Prenter bleeding on the floor in a second. He stood over the other man that was twisting on the floor in pain and looked at him with nothing but disgust. “Let’s join your other scumbag, defeated friends. You’re all going to Azkaban.”  

Professor Taylor kneeled down next to him, grabbing one of Prenter’s arms and apparated into the great hall with all the others.  

 

 

*** 

 

Ben and Joe run down corridors to safety but the fight was over. Once they reached the lowest level, they caught a glimpse of the defeated Death Eaters with their Professors and people from The Ministry of Magic and Azkaban where they were all being sent to.  

Ben led Joe to the dining hall so they could meet back with their friends but Joe stopped before going in, panting hard and holding Ben’s hand tight. The later stopped on his track and turned around. He stood very close to Joe and didn’t let go of his hand. He hoped he never had to.  

“Ben... I’m... I’m so sorry.” Joe started. He wasn’t exactly crying but he was very close to.  

“What? What are you talking about?” Ben asked, worried and lost.  

“You were right all this time. About being prepared to fight and I was so stubborn and stupid and if it wasn’t for you...” He was angry at himself for doubting Ben, he felt selfish and couldn’t stop thinking what would have happened if his friend hadn’t showed up when he did. 

“Joe...” 

“I’m so sorry...”  

“Joe, stop.” 

“I’m such an idiot and a coward.”  

“Joe!”  

“I should’ve never tried to stopp...”  

Ben couldn’t listen to Joe blaming himself like that. It took him sometime, but after figuring out his feelings for his friend, he knew that if Joe cared half as much as he cared about Joe, he must have been terrified about the prospect of him being put in danger. He understood him now and he started seeing things more clearly. That’s why, when he couldn’t take it anymore, he pulled Joe in by the hand they were still holding and took Joe’s face with his free hand. Joe wasn’t looking at him while he ranted so Ben pulled his face up to his own and brought his lips to Joe’s into a kiss.  

Joe didn’t have time to be surprised, he didn’t have time to think. He didn’t want to. He tugged at Ben’s sweater and pulled him even closer, deepening the kiss that he had been dreaming about and longing for, for a year and it filled every inch of his body with a burning sensation that was going to leave a mark in him, much like the one that was done to him earlier but one he would never want to get rid of.  

“Did it have to come to us almost dying for you two to finally kiss?”  

They heard Lucy’s voice coming towards them so, much against their wishes, they stopped kissing and Ben turned around. Their three friends run the few steps that separated them and the five of them joined in a tight hug, finally breathing at ease and peace.  

 

 

 

***** 

 

 

Holding hands and laughing while walking through Hogwarts halls, Joe found a dark corner hidden away from everyone else and pushed Ben into it, still giggling. They shared a few short kisses between smiles that quickly turned into a full blown make out session as Joe pressed Ben hard against the wall. They broke away for air from time to time.  

 _“Aguamenti!”_  

They heard and a splash of water hit them both in the face and Joe had to take a step back from Ben.  

“What in the bloody hell!?” Ben complained as he passed a hand over his, now, wet face  

“You shouldn’t be making out in hallways; it gives a bad example!” Gwilym scolded them with his arms crossed on his chest. He was half saying the truth, because yes, they shouldn’t do that but it was also fun and their expression now was priceless. 

“There’s no one around!” Ben said, very annoyed but Joe was just laughing his ass off. 

“Sorry, Gwil.” Joe shrugged and he drew his wand out to dry them both off. 

“It’s amazing how  _after 10 years_  you’re still sneaking around and making out like teenagers. Come on, the others are waiting for dinner.”  

 

 _10 years later_ , life found the five friends back at Hogwarts and they were as united as ever and now they were teaching there in their beloved school together. Ben was the Defense Against Dark Arts Professor and head of Slytherin, while Joe was teaching Muggle Studies, the proper way now and he was having the time of his life. Gwilym on his part was, of course, the new Astronomy Professor following on the footsteps of Professor May, with big shoes to fill. Rami was very happily married to Lucy and teaching History of Magic and Lucy herself was there as well as head of Ravenclaw and Arithmancy Professor.   

 

Before going in, to have dinner with their friends as usual, Ben stopped Joe right outside the dining hall, making a sign at Gwilym that they’d take a minute and Gwilym rolled his eyes at them and went ahead. He was a little giddy all of the sudden and Joe smiled at him, his giddiness a little contagious. They were holding hands but Ben intertwined their fingers together now and looked at his boyfriend.  

“What is it?” Joe asked finally laughing a little silently.  

“Why don’t we get married?” Ben let out bluntly and out of nowhere.  

Joe retreated a little to take a better look at the blonde. “Not to rob you of your catchphrase but... are you joking?” 

Ben shook his head quickly. “No...” 

“You did not just propose to me like this.” Joe wasn’t angry but he was very amused.  

“I...” Ben didn’t think this through, yes, he realized that now. “I don’t have a ring. I could get on one knee...” He started kneeling down but Joe stopped him and made him stand up. 

“No, stand up!” Joe laughed. “What’s gotten into you?” 

“It’s just... Gwilym just said. _10 years_. We’ve been together for 10 bloody years. Rami and Lucy have been married a while. Why not?” Ben shrugged, looking into Joe’s eyes to try and see if this was a silly idea but Joe was beaming. 

“I didn’t think you cared about these things?”  

“Me neither.”  

Joe brought Ben into him, collapsing their foreheads together. He was biting at his bottom lip in a smile. “Okay Hardy, I’ll marry you if you want it so badly, you big sap.”  

“I can make this better when I get a ring. Do it properly.”  

“Not if I do it first.” Joe smirked at Ben and Ben was surprised. Leave it to them to make everything a competition.  

“Oh, alright then. It’s on.” They kissed for a while and then got inside to meet their friends, both grinning like idiots.  

 

“Okay, what did you do?” Rami asked as he watched them sit down and everyone’s eyes were on them. 

“What are you talking about?” Joe said but he couldn’t shake the grin off of his face. 

“Oh my God.” Lucy exclaimed and grabbed Rami’s arm. “You’re getting married, aren’t you?” 

“Lucy, what the fuck!?” Ben said. 

“I hate it when she does this.” Joe added shaking his head. “Maybe...”  

“Finally?!” Lucy screamed. “You two owe me!” She said to Rami and Gwilym and they both rolled their eyes. “They said you weren’t going to get married but I knew one of you two would pop the question eventually. Was it Ben?” 

“What are you? Some sort of a witch?” Joe joked and they all laughed.  

“The brightest witch of my generation some may say.” 

“Yeah, Rami says.” Ben scuffed.  

“Hey I stand by that.” Rami turned around and pecked Lucy’s lips and she gave them all a smug look.   

“In all seriousness now...” Gwilym added, looking at Lucy to stop babbling. “Congratulations. We’re all very happy for you two.” He gave his best friends a beautiful and kind smile.  

“We’re really happy too...” Joe nodded and looked at Ben and Ben nodded back. 

“Pretty happy, yeah.” 

 

Life was exactly what they hoped it’d be. They couldn’t have imagined their lives in a different way. There was no other place that the five of them rather be than there at Hogwarts together. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So??? It's done! How did you like it? Was it worth the wait?? Do you guys want to kill me? Was it bad? I really can't tell. I liked it thou but I want to hear from you! 
> 
> I'm gonna add two more chapters that are kind of unrelated. One is about Queen as teens (I'm not gonna be an ass, I'm gonna tell you what happened between Roger and Prenter) in Hogwarts and one is about Rami and Lucy but the main plot is finished and done.
> 
> ps, I'm very aware I stole a lot from Harry Potter for this one haha  
> ps2, I imagine the end as that bit of Joe's video at the 7Eleven when the cashier asks them about the oscars and Joe says "pretty good" and Ben looks at him LIKE THAT™ and says pretty good too.


End file.
